Factors Limiting Small and Medium Enterprises Access to Credit in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Abstract

SMEs have been recognized as the engine that drives economic growth and development through creation of job opportunities as well as providing most of the needed goods and services. Despite SMEs significant contribution to country‘s wellbeing, many factors hinder their growth and development chief among them being availability of financing for the emergence, growth and development of SMEs. The purpose of this study was to determine/establish factors limiting small and medium enterprises access to credit in Uasin Gishu County in Kenya. The literature explored in this study outlined financial access theories, credit access empirical literature as well as factors that dictate credit access. In this study, SMEs specific characteristics formed the independent variables that influence the dependent variable (being awarded a credit facility). The study used a descriptive approach where 392 SMEs in Uasin-Gishu County were sample and interviewed using an interviewer administered questionnaire. From the findings, the study concludes that majority of SMEs in the county did not for credit facilities citing reasons of complex application procedures, high interest rate, and insufficient collateral and poor record keeping. Only 27% of SMEs who applied loans were granted and majority of the rejected applicants cited lack of adequate collateral and inadequate historic information as the reasons of the decline of application. The study also revealed that increasing age and number of employees increased the probability of being awarded a loan facility. It also found out that men had higher chances of getting a credit facility as compared to women