The Impact of Innovation on Small and Medium Enterprises Performance: Empirical Evidence from Hargeisa, Somaliland

This study examines the impact of innovation on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Target population of the study was 6930 SMEs in Hargeisa; a number provided by Hargeisa Local Government, and Somaliland Ministry of Trade and Investment as the two institutions issue business licenses to the small enterprises and medium enterprises respectively. A sample of 378 SMEs has been drown from this population. The study adopted both descriptive and regression analyses to estimate the impact of innovation. Regression results of the study reveal that innovation significantly affects the performance of SMEs in Hargeisa. The study finds that the effects of product innovation, marketing innovation and organizational innovation are statistically significant among these SMEs.