Study on the Constraints Facing the Development of Micro and Small Enterprises, 2014 - Egypt

Abstract --------------------------- This survey field data was collected, from rural governorates in Egypt, on Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in the context of a project, funded by ERF, on "The Nexus between Informal Credit and Informal Labor for MSEs in Egypt". MSEs in Egypt still rely heavily on informal credit. They also rely on informal labor to a great extent. In the meantime, MSEs' access to formal finance has been facing increasing restrictions, due to adopting more cautious lending strategies by both public and private banks. This project aims, through the collected dataset, at examining the relationship between informal credit and the formalization of MSEs, in general, and, in particular, their employment characteristics. To do that, it attempts to find out what effect informal credit has on the performance, risk and return to capital of MSEs and how it affects the employment profile and the use of informal labor. It also looks into whether informal credit provides a disincentive for the formalization of MSEs and whether the sources of informal credit have different effects on the formalization of MSEs.or to a great extent. The survey was tested in several governorates, but was eventually implemented in the Gharbeya and Bani Suef governorates. Administering the survey was often interrupted because of security reasons. It is also worth noting that this survey is not weighted. Geographic coverage --------------------------- The survey was implemented in the Gharbeya and Bani Suef governorates. Analysis unit --------------------------- - MSEs Kind of data --------------------------- Sample survey data [ssd] Sampling procedure --------------------------- A two-stage sampling procedure was adopted. In the first stage, a convenience sampling was used to choose localities (governorates and cities/towns). Convenience sampling is a non-probability sampling technique that is used by the researcher because the sample is easily accessible. The main weakness of convenience sampling is that the sample could be biased and does not represent the whole population. However despite this weakness, real world restrictions may justify using convenience sampling. One of these restrictions is the fact that the research emphasis is on hidden population. Hidden population means that the population cannot be studied using standard sampling methods due to lacking of a sampling frame, which is a list of all population members. MSEs were considered a hidden population because, at the time, there was no available data on the micro and small enterprises in Egypt. Accordingly, convenience sampling was used and Tanta was chosen because it meets specific practical standards, for instance, ease of access and geographical closeness. In the second stage, a simple random sampling was used to choose the establishments from these localities. Simple random sampling means that every element of the population has equal opportunity to be selected in the sample. The researchers walked the streets and approached the enterprises randomly for an onsite interview using the questionnaire. Different types of enterprises with different economic activities were targeted to construct a sample that embraced an appropriate range and to allow a better representation of the wider population. Two economic criteria were set to choose the establishments. The first criterion was the nature of the activity whether it was agricultural, manufacturing, commercial or a services enterprise. The second criterion was the number of workers in each establishment. If the establishment has up to 5 workers, we consider it a micro enterprise while the establishment that has between 6 to 20 workers is considered to be small enterprise. Mode of data collection --------------------------- Face-to-face [f2f] Research instrument --------------------------- One questionnaire form, in both Arabic and English, consisting of 12 Parts was designed to collect the survey data.