Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the regulation, awareness, compliance and performance of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in Cameroon's Central and Littoral regions, focusing on the manufacturing and retail sectors. Design/methodology/approach - The full survey was conducted on 700 randomly selected SMEs which have identifiable business locations. From this, only 575 enterprises were retained for analysis after performing the coherence test. Findings - Businesses registered for tax and those in the manufacturing sector see tax regulation as a burden. Those having opinions that regulation is rigid, inconsistent and that there is corruption also opine that regulation is negatively impacting on business. High compliance with customs and municipal regulations significantly negatively affect business development. On the other hand, high compliance with health and safety as well as trade regulations is good for SME development. Businesses registered with the Ministry of Trade tend to be more compliant, while those registered with the Municipality are not. Practical implications - Overall, it is important that government should create an enabling environment for the development of the SMEs in Cameroon. Originality/value - The number of studies focusing on the relationship between regulation and business performance in Africa is limited. Hence, the contribution of this paper is to enrich our understanding of this important field.
