Small and Medium Enterprises in the Garment Sector of Afghanistan: Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the garment sector appear to be neglected by the government of Afghanistan. Although, the improvement in this sector will contribute enormously to the overall economic development. Developing the garments sector has even more importance in the context of least developed economies like Afghanistan. Thus, given the significance, this study aimed to find out the problems of the entrepreneurs of the small and medium enterprises in the garments sector of Afghanistan. This study explores factors affecting small and medium enterprises in the garments sector of Afghanistan. The study employs qualitative methodology by using purposive judgmental sampling method and data was collected from fifteen entrepreneurs of the small and medium enterprises in the garments sector in Kabul province. The study concluded that factors such as; lack of security, lack of government support, tough foreign markets competition, lack of textile production factories, no control over the large volume of garments imports, etc., largely affect the small and medium enterprises in the garment sector of Afghanistan. This study will help the concerned government bodies' policy and decision-makers to understand the problems faced by the entrepreneurs in the garments sector well and take initiatives accordingly to sort out the problems not only but devise policies to assure future growth of the garment sector of Afghanistan.