ABSTRACT
Micro Finance is a living idea and Nigeria and the rest of the world cannot do
without Micro finance and SMEs in their bid to improving the living conditions of
citizens and the alleviation of poverty around the world. The objectives of this
research are, to; examine the impact of MFBs loans and advances on the net profit of
SMEs, examine the impact of loans and advances on shareholders’ funds of SMEs
and examine the impact of loans and advances on investment levels of SMEs in
Nigeria.
The ex post facto research design was adopted to enable the researcher make
use of secondary data and determine cause-effect relationship. The data were
analyzed using simple linear regression model. The results as revealed by the
hypotheses tested indicated that; there was a negative non-significant impact of loans
and advances on profitability; there was a positive significant impact of loans and
advances on shareholders’ fund and lastly, there was a positive significant impact of
loans and advances on the investment level of SMEs. It was also revealed from the
study that since the introduction of Micro finance banking in Nigeria in December
2005, SMEs financing options have increased productivity and growth. Also,
government policies on Micro finance have been effective, thus, Micro Finance
banks have an impact on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria.
