A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degrees of bachelors in business management and entrepreneurship BBME MCA 2015 CH2239

This study focused on investigating the on the challenges that SMEs have in accessing finance from commercial banks in Malawi. The study has concentrated on two banks in Malawi, National bank of Malawi and standard bank Malawi. Three SMEs owners were interviewed, the owner of Everest tracking, Greenland Cleaning services and status carpeting.
The researcher used questionnaires and structured interviews to investigate on the above topic.
The research was conducted in the district on Blantyre.
The research found that indeed SMEs face challenges in accessing financial from commercial banks. In Malawi, There are twelve banks but of these, only two were studied. These two have give a clear indication that banks are harsh when releasing loans to SMEs. The problem has been found to lie on the grounds that most SMEs lack of proper education and training before venturing into business. As, such they are tending to use business finances for their personal use. Recommendations were made by bank officials who included an implementation of a training system of all SMEs in their respective fields. SMEs were also interviewed. A and they gave their the issue. According to SMEs bank demanded a lot from them before the support before the release of a loan. SMEs also complain of very high lending rates in the country and difficult economic conditions in Malawi. Their recommendation were that government should intervene on the matter especially the reduction in lending rates that banks be flexible in issuing loans. The biggest limitations of the study was time; the researcher was going to interview government officials and officials from the bankers association to understand their policies on the development of SMEs.