Small scale and medium businesses (SMEs)
contribute immensely towards the gross domestic
product (GDP) of any nation. They account for a large
percentage of the jobs in many countries. In
consideration of these, the researchers sought to find out
if a change in financial services access brings out a shift
in growth of SMEs in Mombasa city, Kenya. The study
focused on businesses in existence for five years after
inception. Primary data was obtained, from 345
enterprises through a purposive random sample from
licensed SMEs in the financial year 2020/2021, in
Mombasa County. Except for banc assurance services
the study showed a positive correlation between lending
services, business training, bancassurance and digital
banking with growth of small and medium enterprises.
However, it found out a negative association between
financial saving and the dependent variable. In
consideration of these, the study recommends financial
institutions to facilitate good working relationship
between their credit departments with SMEs. This, in
turn will boost uptake of credit services for realization of
growth among small and medium enterprises. Insurance
institutions to coordinate their partnership with banks to
be able to accelerate uptake of bancassurance services.
Governments to establish incentives on ICT firms that
innovate products targeting financial services access and
SMEs operations integrations. Furthermore, the county
governments to fund trainings conducted by financial
institutions to encourage them conduct frequent
seminars and workshops among the SMEs owners and
managers. This willboost knowledge and skill base, that
ultimatelyassist businesses owners run their SMEs
efficiently and effectively.
Keywords :
Bancassurance, business training, digital banking, financial saving, financial services access, growth of small and medium enterprises, lending services.