Better Loans or Better Borrowers? : Impact of Meso-Credit on Female-Owned Enterprises in Ethiopia

Alibhai, Salman ; Buehren, Niklas ; Papineni, Sreelakshmi

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: GENDER;    ENTREPRENEURSHIP;    FIRMS;    FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS;    MICROENTERPRISE;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8511
RP-ID  :  WPS8511

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper explores the impact of large,individual-liability loans on the growth of women-ownedmicroenterprises in Ethiopia. Traditionally, microfinanceinstitutions in Ethiopia have primarily catered to femaleenterprises with group lending schemes that provide verysmall loans. The limitations of this model are two-fold: inaddition to these micro-loans being too small in size tofuel meaningful business growth, many of the femaleenterprises that are targeted with these loans face bindingconstraints, such as concentration in lower-growth sectors,lack of alternative job opportunities, limitations on timeand mobility, and restrictive gender norms. The paperinvestigates the impact of credit to female entrepreneurs ina novel context, by examining larger loans, provided togrowth-oriented women entrepreneurs. These entrepreneursfall in the "missing middle" or"meso-finance" segment of the financial marketbecause their credit needs are too large for microfinance,but not large enough for commercial banks. The paper uses apropensity score matching methodology to examine the impactof loans offered to women as part of the WomenEntrepreneurship Development Project, a program funded bythe World Bank International Development Association, thattargets growth-oriented women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia. Theresults suggest that large, individual-liability loans canmake a significant difference in accelerating growth in thebusiness incomes and employment levels of women-owned enterprises.