Digital Skills Development and SME Growth in Africa: A Systematic Review of Evidence for Inclusive Economic Development

This study seeks to explore the relationship between digital skills and growth in Small Medium Enterprises in Africa, making comparisons with some global studies where necessary. This is through a PRISMA guided systematic literature review of empirical evidence and concepts around how digital literacy, digital capability, and technology skills affect the competitiveness, resilience, innovation and inclusive economic growth of SMEs. The study will review selected studies in various sectors of the economy that include agriculture, manufacturing, creative industries, retail, traditional markets and women-owned SMEs. Digital skills emerge to be key enablers for sales growth, market growth, efficiency, and continuity, and contribute to wider societal impacts of financial inclusion, youth entrepreneurship and poverty alleviation. The findings show, however, differences in the results because of variations in infrastructure, policy environment, financial capacity and digital skills among other factors. The contribution of the study is in offering a conceptual framework for digital skills development, digital capabilities, SME growth and inclusive economic development. It also proposes policies on digital infrastructure, training of SMEs, educational partnerships and inclusive digital ecosystem. Comparative and longitudinal studies in African SMEs should be considered in future.