IMPACT OF MICROFINANCE BANKS’ SERVICES ON THE GROWTH OF MICRO, SMALL,

The study aimed at examining the impact of microfinance banks’ services on the growth and performance of micro, small and medium enterprises using Kano state as a case study. The sample was drawn through multistage stratified random sampling and comprised 544 beneficiaries and 50 staff of 10 microfinance banks selected from 10 local governments across the state. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews and analysed with the aid of OLS model, Logit and Probit models, as well as descriptive statistics. The findings showed a significant positive relationship between microfinance banks’ financial services and beneficiaries’ business growth, but interest rate was found to have negative relationship with business growth. It was also found that business advisory services and pre-loan trainings were the only non-financial services that have positive and significant impact on business performance, while group membership and networking meetings have positive but insignificant impact.