| dc.description.abstract | The Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector is important for the growth of the economy in any developing
country. Similarly, microfinance credit facilities are crucial to SMEs financial performance as they facilitate growth
of the SMEs businesses. In our study, we investigate the effect of microfinance credit factors (credit amount, interest
rate, collateral requirement, credit repayment period and entrepreneur orientation) on the SMEs financial
performance in Kenya using a sample size of 210 SMEs. Stratified and simple random sampling technique was
employed. Cronbach‟s alpha was used to estimate reliability and alpha of 0.7 was deduced which showed the
instruments were reliable. Data collected established that majority of respondents had not received any
entrepreneurial training. The effect of interest rate, collateral requirement, and repayment period were found to have
negative effect on SMES financial performance, but there was a positive effect on the entrepreneur orientation and
credit amount. The study also established that microfinance credit factors affect SMEs financial performance with
entrepreneur orientation contributing the most to SMEs financial performance compared to the other factors thus
implying that most of the SMEs entrepreneurs are innovative, take risks by venturing into new business activities
and are proactive. The study recommends that microfinance institutions consider entrepreneur orientation training
while disbursing credit. | en_US |
