Microfinance and sustained economic improvement: Women small‐scale entrepreneurs in Ethiopia

Abstract Women entrepreneurs account for a sizable majority of small‐scale entrepreneurs in Africa. A minor change in their capitalization could assure their participation in diverse productive activities and has a large impact on their lives and families, as well as on the economy. While their access to credit is impeded profoundly because of the regulatory constraints imposed by formal financial institutions, on one hand, the informal sector interest rates as high as 300 per cent are literally untenable, on the other. The paper investigates the contribution of microfinance to the economic improvement of women small‐scale entrepreneurs in Addis Ababa. The research assesses the impact of credit and saving services on the economic improvement of women small‐scale entrepreneurs by using secondary data and a quantitative analysis based on questionnaires and interviews. The study probes financial facets such as income, savings, credit, financial services, family obligations and access to education. It concludes that women entrepreneurs who obtain microfinance face a number of problems. The study exposes the overall environment constraining women entrepreneurs on financial fronts and suggests some measures of relief to ameliorate the situation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.