Abstract:
This study was conducted to identify socioeconomic factors affecting efficient utilization
of Micro Credit among women in Morogoro Municipal. Specifically, the study examined
major economic activities that women perform with credit, assessed performance of
women activities, identified socioeconomic factors influencing efficient utilization of
Micro Credit and determined the extent to which credit money was spent on unintended
activities. The study involved 80 respondents in which 75 were Micro credit recipients and
five were key informants from five Micro Financial Institutions in Morogoro Municipal.
Snowball and Purposeful sampling were used to identify respondents. Data were collected
using structured questionnaire, FGDs and interview schedule, and by reviewing secondary
data from several sources. Descriptive and multiple response statistics such as mean,
frequencies and percentages were used. Qualitative data from Micro Credit recipients and
key informants were summarized and reported. Findings showed majority (60.4%) of
women entrepreneurs are engaged on clothing and food items projects which include
‘Mama Lishe’ and ‘Genge’. Few (6.9%) of the respondents had no project. Results showed
that few women recorded negative gross margins and fewer 5.3% had gross margin above
500 000/=. It was noted that socioeconomic factors that affect efficient utilization of
Micro credit among women are amount of loan, lack of training in business management,
poverty (income status), repayment schedule, business related problems and high interest
rate. Data from key informants noted Micro entrepreneurs diverge credit to food, clothing
and educational related expenses. Study results shows that majority of respondents diverge
credit to food and clothing. The study recommended Micro Credit institutions to empower
credit recipients by training on operational and management skills and increase credit
funds to enable micro entrepreneurs acquire significant amount of loan to sustain theiriii
activities. Micro Credit institutions should design effective monitoring and evaluation, and
repayment conditions should be flexible.
