An Assessment of the Microfinance Product Mix in Support of Small-Scale Businesses: A Case of Choma District, Zambia

This research study investigated how effectively the mix of microfinance products supports small-scale businesses in Choma District, Zambia, with a focus on their impact on profitability, their role in the growth of the business, and the challenges owners face in accessing and using these services. With the use of descriptive cross-sectional design, data was collected from 40 respondents using a simple random Sampling technique through structured questionnaires, which were distributed to 40 small-scale business owners within Choma District. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and hypothesis testing. Savings emerged as the product most frequently related to profitability (35% of respondents), whereas the combination of savings and training was the most commonly reported mix supporting business activities. Still, none of the three areas produced statistically significant results at the 5% level (p = 0.6730 for profitability, p = 0.4379 for growth, and p = 0.6730 for challenges), so the null hypotheses were not rejected. Despite microfinance products offering practical help to some businesses, the contribution to profitability and growth is not statistically significant and depends on factors such as financial literacy, business management skills, product suitability, market conditions, and lending terms. The study therefore recommends that microfinance institutions should strengthen financial literacy programs for small-scale business owners and design products that are in line with what business owners actually need and the operating realities of small-scale businesses in the district.