Impact of cashless economy on the development of small and medium scales businesses in Jigawa State, Nigeria

Cashless economy does not mean a total elimination of cash; it is a financial environment that minimizes the use of physical cash by providing alternative channel for making payment. The objectives of this study include; to identify the challenges those have hindered the adoption of cashless policy by small and medium scale businesses, to investigate if cashless in any way enhanced a growth on small and medium scale business enterprises and finally to identify the challenges those that have hindered the adoption of cashless policy on small and medium scale businesses all in Jigawa State. The survey was carried out through the administration of questionnaire on owners and operators of small and medium scale businesses in the study area. Due to the introduction of e-payment by Jigawa State government, small and medium scale businesses have started utilizing electronic based payment in their day to-day payments and business activities through Point of Sale Terminals (POS), GSM, Mobile Banking, and Automated Teller Machine (ATM). This signifies that an efficient and modern payment system positively correlated with economic development and it is a key enable of the economic growth.