Does microcredit make any difference on borrowers’ Businesses? Evidences from a survey of women owned Micro enterprises in Tanzania

Abstract

The paper examines whether participation in microcredit has any effect on the performance of women owned microenterprises in Tanzania. Data were collected through questionnaire. A total of 217 borrowers and 183 non-borrowers in Arusha, Dar es Salaam and Mwanza were involved. The study found out that businesses of borrowers were performing significantly better than those of non-borrowers on total sales revenue and business net worth. The paper concludes that microcredit is a useful tool to alleviate poverty among women through income generation resulting from their involvement in microenterprise activities.