I declare that I have wholly undertaken the study reported herein under supervision Essay

The Lord has been faithful in granting me the strength, wisdom, knowledge and the courage needed throughout the period of study. My sincerest appreciation goes to my supervisor, MR. MICHAEL NKONYAA for his guidance and constructive criticism through the preparation of the work. He is largely responsible for the success of this work and I am very much grateful. To my husband Solomon Kweku, to my colleagues in MBA Finance 2012/2013 in whose company I stayed and formed my thoughts I say God richly bless you for the fellowship and love we shared. To the Staff and Management of Growth Capital Microfinance, wish to express my sincere gratitude to you for your support and co-operation. Finally, I wish to thank all authors of various research works and articles I made use of in writing of this work, indeed, your research works and articles have served as major sources of literature and knowledge. ABSTRACT This study examined effects of microfinance on small and medium enterprises in the Accra Metropolis, in the Greater Accra Region. .The population of the study comprised clients and staff of Micro finance Institutions (MIF). A sample of 60 clients and eight staff was used for data collection. Two interview guides were used separately to collect data from staff and clients. The return rate of data collection was 8(100%) for staff and 55(91.7%) for clients. Data collected was analysed manually and electronically. The statistical product and service solution (SPSS) was used for the electronic analysis in which descriptive statistical tools were used for data presentation and discussion. Results of the study indicated that microfinance s impacted positively on the social and economic lives of SMEs operators. The research also indicates that MFIs have had a positive effect on the growth of SMEs. Some of the critical contributions of MFIs include; greater access to credit, savings enhancement and provision of business, financial and managerial training. Irrespective of the contributions of MFIs to SMEs, there are challenges that affect their operations of both SMEs and MFIs. The major challenge faced by SMEs is the cumbersome process associated with accessing credit of which collateral security and high interest rate are major setback. The MFIs on the other hand, face some challenges relating to credit misappropriation and non-disclosure of the relevant facts of their businesses. In the final analysis, the research clearly reveals that MFIs have a positive effect on the growth SMEs. In other to enhance a sustained and accelerated growth in the operations of SMEs credits should be client-oriented and not product- oriented. Recommendations were made to MFIs, Specifically, MFI was asked to put in measures that could help reduce interest rates, train operators of SMEs on proper business practices Proper, extensive monitoring activities should be provided for clients who are granted loans and SMEs were asked to adopt effective bookkeeping modalities.