Development of a Data Analytics Dashboard for Small Businesses in Kogi State

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Kogi State, North Central Nigeria, frequently operate without business intelligence tools, making data-driven decision-making inaccessible at the micro-enterprise level. This study develops a data analytics dashboard for SMEs in Kogi State, providing sales, inventory, and customer trend insights through a simplified visual interface. The dashboard is built using Python Dash with Plotly visualisation components, drawing data from CSV uploads and a lightweight SQLite database. The agile methodology drives iterative dashboard design, with feedback from 35 SME owners in Lokoja, Okene, and Anyigba across retail, food service, and manufacturing sectors. Core features include daily sales summaries, product performance charts, customer repeat rate analysis, low-stock alerts, and exportable PDF reports. Usability testing sessions with 20 SME owners assess dashboard comprehension, navigation ease, and actionability of insights. Findings show that 78 percent of participants identified at least one operational change following dashboard use, and inventory stockout frequency reduced by 34 percent among pilot businesses. The study identifies low digital literacy among older SME owners as the primary adoption barrier and recommends government-sponsored digital business skills workshops as a complementary intervention. Keywords: data analytics, SME, Kogi State, business intelligence, dashboard