MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS OUTREACH AND GROWTH OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

Résumé

The study examines Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) Outreach and the growth of SMEs in North Central Nigeria. MFIs Outreach was measured using the breadth of outreach proxied by loans to SMEs, Savings of SMEs with MFIs and customer outreach of MFIs. A cross-sectional research design with a descriptive survey method was used to carry out the study. The population of the study consisted of 13378 SMEs in North Central Nigeria, while a sample size of 388 was derived using the Taro Yamane formula. Data was obtained using a questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The data was analysed using ordinal regression with the aid of SPSS 26. It was found that loans to MFIs and customer outreach of MFIs have a significant effect on the growth of SMEs, while SMEs' savings with MFIs have no significant effect on the growth of SMEs. The study concludes that customers outreach of MFIs and loans from MFIs to SMEs have positively affected the growth of SMEs in North Central Nigeria and therefore recommends that MFIs should review downwards the interest rates charged on their loans, MFIs should build greater visibility nationwide, more synergy with SMEs and sustain their efforts at cash collection while compelling SMEs to maintain some amount of savings before accessing other services of the MFIs should be discouraged.