“Evaluation of credit terms, accessibility, and sustainability of small businesses in south Sudan. A case study of Konyokonyo and Gudele market vendors in Juba city South Sudan”.

Abstract

The study was carried out to establish the relationship between credit terms, credit accessibility, and the sustainability of small and medium enterprises in Juba South Sudan. The following objectives guided the study; to examine, the relationship between credit terms and the sustainability of SMEs, the relationship between credit accessibility and sustainability of SMEs, and the combined effect of credit terms and credit accessibility on the sustainability of SMEs in Konyokonyo and Gudele Markets. This was a quantitative study that relied on a quantitative research approach out of 350 registered SMEs in the Konyokonyo and Gudele Markets and, a sample of 240 SMEs was drawn. Primary data was collected using questionnaires and data from the field was compiled, sorted, and edited for analysis using SPSS. The results indicated a significant positive relationship between credit terms and sustainability, credit accessibility and sustainability, and a combination of credit terms and credit accessibility and sustainability of SMEs within Konyokonyo and Gudele Markets. Based on the findings, the study recommended that financial Institutions and quick money lenders relax credit terms which will increase credit accessibility and automatically lead to sustainability. SMEs should ensure mechanisms that can boost their credit accessibility, and the government of South Sudan should put in place policies that provide easy access to credit by SMEs. They should further increase funding opportunities and come up with more entrepreneurship-oriented programs such as capital ventures with well-maximized guaranteed sustainability of SMEs.