The Impact of Microfinance Banks on the Growth Of Smes in Fct Nigeria (2005-2016)

Master's Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Economics - Economic Cycle and Growth, grade: 75.00, University of Geneva, course: Master of Business Administration, language: English, abstract: This project presented an investigation into the impact of microfinance banks (MFBs) on the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Abuja between the periods of (2005-2017). To achieve this, a comprehensive analysis was undertaken regarding the development of Microfinance as an economic tool, and the relevance of SMEs to the achievement of widespread economic empowerment and the alleviation of poverty in Nigeria. Aside from conventional banking services such as the acceptance of deposits and provision of credit, findings from primary research disclosed that the provision of capacity building and other supportive services were designated by the CBN as necessary for adequate development of SMEs. However information on the existence of some of these service or information regarding the measures of success experienced by SMEs in terms of growth through access to these services were difficult to ascertain. Therefore, a secondary research was undertaken on twenty-one (21) MFBs and forty-eight (48) SMEs all based in FCT Abuja, Nigeria with the aim of investigating the factors surrounding the rendering of capacity building and other core microfinance services as prescribed by the CBN.

Findings revealed that only a fraction of identifiable CBN-described capacity building services were offered to SMEs by MFBs - services such as credit application training were focused on while other important capacity building services such as 'book keeping', 'quality assessment' and 'sales/marketing' were largely ignored. Conclusive results revealed that there was not a significant indication of growth impacted on SMEs by MFBs. Findings rather suggested that there is a lot more that needed to be done in order for MFBs to effectively make an impact on the growth of SMEs. In conclusion, careful analyses of findings of the study were indicative of a need for more regulation within the MFB industry in order to ensure the execution of exclusive SME targeted Microfinance services, which would in-turn, facilitate economical growth within and outside the SME and MFB sectors. It was also recommended that special Microfinance resources (separate from those available to commercial banks) be made available to enable MFBs the capability to effectively and efficiently execute services that will be beneficial to the growth of SMEs.