Barriers to Formal Training in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: the Case of Mauritian Manufacturing Sector

Today SMEs are one of the principal driving forces in many economies as it contributes substantially to GDP and employment. In Mauritius, the government is giving much importance to SMEs for its development. One of the most important aspects of SMEs'' development is its manpower. Training is considered as one of the most important tool for the success of an enterprise. Without trained personnel, companies would not be able to be competitive. This study aims to highlight and identify formal training practices among SMEs. For the research, primary data was collected where a questionnaire was sent to 226 SMEs. The main findings of the survey revealed that in Mauritius training is mostly informal in SMEs, there exist many barriers for formal training like finance, poor quality of training and so on. It was found that informal training is the most popular and appropriate training for SMEs as it cost less and it does not disrupt the day-to-day running of organisations. Those companies who were involved in training tend to develop their own in-house training methods. Formal training was used very little by SMEs and they do not rely on public funded institutions like SEHDA and IVTB for training.