The presence of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia will contribute to the movement of the Indonesian economy, so its growth is an essential part that must be considered by the government. The goal of this study was to explore the role of innovative capabilities in improving the performance of Indonesian SMEs. A variable approach to social capital, entrepreneurial leadership, innovation ability and SME efficiency was used in this research. The research included a sample of 352 small and medium-sized enterprises in Pekanbaru, Indonesia, consisting of 19 medium-sized enterprises and 333 small enterprises out of a total population of 2887 small and medium-sized enterprises (the sampling methodology used was chance sampling and simple random sampling methods). The findings show that social capital does not explicitly have a substantial impact on the business performance of SMEs in Pekanbaru, but if it is mediated by creative capacities, social capital indirectly plays a role in improving the performance of SMEs. Entrepreneurial leadership has a big influence on SMEs.