The role of financial access in the success of small and medium enterprises in Swaziland
Date
2016
Authors
Mthethwa, Zethu Prudence
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Abstract
Most economies today are calling upon their or rather are starting to rely on their Small and
Medium business Enterprises to stimulate the economy and also help address issues of
unemployment. However it is also believed that even though this maybe the case, most
economies still don’t give SMEs enough funding.
The underlying public assumption is that all that is needed for SMEs to thrive is access to
funding, as such this study sought to investigate the role of financial access in the success of
SMEs. The study had intended to use financial ratios as proxies for success, however, the
record keeping of the SMEs or lack thereof impeded this intention, so the study measured the
success of the enterprise as perceived by the owner.
The study sampled SMEs from all for regions of Swaziland, and besides a descriptive
analysis that were carried out to examine the utilization of credit by the SMEs. This study
also used a statistical model known as the Logit model, to determine the effect that credit
access had on the success of the SME and also assess the challenges/barriers that the SMEs
faced when trying to access funding.
The results of this study deviated from the underlying public assumption, as they showed that
an SME owner that had access to funding had reduced odds of success, if anything the results
showed that the success of an SME did not entirely depend on the availability of funding, and
there were other potent factors that posed as barriers to financial access.
Description
Thesis (M.M. (Research))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Governance, 2016.