Constraints Of Financing Small And Medium Enterprises In Namibia

ABSTRACT

The study focused on factors which encumber SMEs from acquiring financial resources from financial institutions and banks in Namibia. The major objectives of the study were to critically evaluate the status of SMEs in Namibia regarding access to formal credit facilities. The study also sought to document the difficulties that SMEs have in accessing finances and assess the financial gap that exists between fund providers and SMEs and how it can be narrowed. The analysis provided an explanation as to how independent variables influenced the financing of SMEs in the Central Business District in Windhoek, Khomas Region in Namibia. The major findings that emerged from this study are that SMEs are not experiencing constraints in funding, and this finding is substantiated by the following: there is a relationship between the age of a firm, bank information and the educational background of an entrepreneur and access to finance. An older firm is less constrained to access financing as opposed to a younger small firm. An entrepreneur with a higher educational background is less likely to be constrained to access finance as opposed to their counterparts who holds no educational qualification. A firm that presents reliable, strong and adequate information to a bank for financing is less likely to be declined funding as opposed to the firm that presents poor and unreliable information.