The research purpose was to examine the effects of Village Savings and Loan Associations on the growth of Small and medium enterprises in Rwanda because despite the contribution of Rwandan Government supported the establishment of Village Group Savings Cooperatives as a way of providing financial accessibility to rural Rwandans who cannot afford big loans from the banking institutions in order to support their micro business, performance of SME’s in the rural areas is still low (RDB report 2014). The researcher achieved this research by use of three specific objectives namely; To analyze the effect of credit/ loans on growth of SME growth in Kayonza District; To examine the effect of training and advice on investment on SME Growth in Kayonza District; and to analyze the capital formation on SME growth in Kayonza district. The research is beneficial to the researcher, SME’s, government and JKUAT. The researcher reviewed both theoretical and empirical literature on the effect of Village Savings and credit cooperatives on SME’s performance. The researcher used descriptive method of study based on qualitative and quantitative approach in order to get better analysis of the study. The population size is 884 and sample of was taken. Both primary and secondary sources with their relevant tools like questionnaire and documentary analysis in order to come up with required data. In the findings it was established that Kayonza district has got various credit/ loan services, Training and Advice on Investment services and Capital formation (savings) services. Credit/ loan services includes; provision of required amount of loan to the clients, provision of loan to the clients within a short time, provision of loan without collaterals but members guarantee, provision of the loan to the clients at a low interest rate and provision of loans to the clients with flexible repayment schedule depending on one’s earnings. Training and Advice on Investment services which that include; provisions of investment briefings on terms and conditions of the loan before acquiring loan, provision of investment seminars and workshops to members, provision of tour to successful members business before loan is awarded to clients, VSLA also make follow up visit to their clients in order to provide business advice on monthly basis and they have created members working team who are guarantors and advisors. Capital formation (savings) services which ensures that that VSLA in Kayonza District make clients contribute monthly or weekly to the group savings, savings contribution is managed through rules and procedures, contributed fund is kept safe, clients to divide the saved funds at an agreed interval and clients has a right to refund once he withdraws from the saving group. These services positively influence the SME growth in Kayonza District in the sense that VSLA services has increased capital base increased of members business, increased profitability of the business, made business expand its branches, made members business acquire assets, made members business cash flow to improve and above all VSLA savings has made my progress from hand to mouth to planning for the future. This was justified by table 4.15 which showed the relationship between Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) and SME growth in Kayonza District whereby the respondents N is 366 and the significant level is 0.01, the results indicate that independent variable has positive high correlation to dependent variable equal to .673** and the p-value is .000 which is less than 0.01. When p-value is less than significant level, therefore researchers conclude that variables are correlated and null hypothesis is rejected and remains with alternative hypothesis. This means that there is a significant relationship between Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) and SME growth in Kayonza District. We can therefore conclude Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) contribute to positive SME growth in Kayonza District.
Keywords: Financial Accessibility, Growth, Loan, Rwanda, Savings, Small and Medium Enterprise (SME), Village
