SOURCE:

Faculty: Management Sciences
Department: Public Administration

CONTRIBUTORS:

Egwuonwu, O. A. G.
Muo, M. C.

ABSTRACT:

This study focused on Effects of Microfinance Policy on Financing Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in South Eastern States of Nigeria. Small and medium scale enterprises (SME) have been seen as mechanisms for intervention to addressing these long term problems of hunger, poverty and unemployment in Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey design. Five research questions and five hypotheses guided the study. The study was anchored on the comprehensive rational model which states that decision-making follows a very rational path and it is developed by classical economy in which man is taking rational decisions. The data used were primary data collected through structured questionnaire. The data collected were presented and discussed using descriptive statistics such as percentage, mean, and frequency among others. Hypotheses were tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation. All computations were done with the aid of Statistical package for Social Science (SPSS, version 23). The findings revealed that that there were significant relationships between timely access to loan and innovative growth of SMEs; production infrastructure and requisite skill development of SMEs; collateral provision and production capacity of SMEs; financial service accessibility and job creativity of SMEs; and loan accessibility and youth empowerment of SMEs in South East Nigeria. The study recommended, among others, that commercial banks should be strongly encouraged to assist Small and Medium Scale Enterprises by providing cheap sources of finance and making their requirements for less cumbersome.