Profitability and poverty status of small-scale entrepreneurs: the garment producers' experience in Lagos State, Nigeria

The study assessed the profitability and poverty status of small-scale garment producers in Lagos State, Nigeria, using multistage sampling technique to select 180 respondents for the study. Method of data collection was through questionnaire and data were subjected to descriptive statistics, budgetary analysis, Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) and regression analysis, respectively. The findings showed that majority of the respondents (94%) were married. The study further revealed that total revenue and net profit accrued per annum were N(sic)601,234.00 and N(sic)59,514.00, respectively. The results of FGT showed that poverty incidence (Po), poverty depth (P1) and poverty severity (P2) for the poverty line of $1 and $1.25 USD per day were 0.114, 0.101, 0.077 and 0.444, 0.150, 0.116, respectively. Results of the regression analysis revealed that the number of customers' patronage, experience and household size had positive coefficients and significantly influenced the profitability of the garment makers in the study area. Policies gearing towards stable power supply should be initiated and implemented to enable the garment makers to increase their production level and profits.