ISSUES ON PERFORMANCE OF YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN SABAH

Abstract

The young generation who composed the majority of the world population is publicly accepted as a vital asset in developing and socio-economy of a country. Although there is evidence of vast involvement of young entrepreneurs in economic development activities, especially the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), their infancy amongst all has led to many issues of their poor performance in running the business especially in Sabah that is far behind in terms of infrastructure development compared to Peninsular Malaysia. Hence, aiming at appraising the performance of young entrepreneurs in SMEs in Sabah, this paper is undertaken via systematic literature review to achieve the objectives of (1) determining the attributes of young entrepreneurs in SMEs inclusive of definitions of youth, young entrepreneur and SMEs; and (2) investigating issues that hinder the performance of young entrepreneurs in SMEs. It is hoped that this paper can reveal the issues faced by the young entrepreneurs in SMEs in Sabah so that equality of opportunities and supports by the government could be achieved throughout the country.