Abstract
Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) have become the focus of attention for the economic development, economic growth and job creations in the world. Majority of the firms worldwide are dominated by businesses of micro and small enterprises. In developing countries, the informal sector that mainly establishes MSE remains the major source of employment and income for the urban population. A study was conducted to examine the performance of MSE in three zones of Tigray State, namely, Southern zone, Mekelle zone and Eastern zone. The data was collected using structured questionnaire on 246 MSE business owners. The data are analyzed using multiple linear regressions (dummy), Cross tabulations and chi-square test for test of independence. The result revealed that Gender, initial capital, enterprise and job type are found to be important factors of performance of MSE. There is a gender difference on sector type, education level and work sheds of micro and small enterprises business owner. The result also showed that initial capital has positively affected the performance of business owners and men headed business owners have better performance than female headed business owners.
 Keywords: Micro- and Small Enterprises, Performance, Gender, Tigray, Ethiopia.
Highlights
Micro- and Small Enterprises (MSEs) have become the focus of attention for economic development, economic growth and job creations in the world
Majority of worldwide firms are dominated by businesses of micro and small enterprises
The importance of MSEs in the economies has been recognized by many organizations such as World Bank, United Nation (UN)
Summary
Micro- and Small Enterprises (MSEs) have become the focus of attention for economic development, economic growth and job creations in the world. The importance of MSEs in the economies has been recognized by many organizations such as World Bank, United Nation (UN). Van Biesebroeck (2005) showed in his review of national surveys conducted in several. African countries estimate that between 17% -27% of the working population was employed in MSEs, being nearly twice the employment of large scale enterprises and public sector. States Agency for International Development (USAID) considers that MSE employ a third or more of the labor force in low income countries (USAID, 2010). Wanambisi and Bwisa (2013) showed that the MSE sector employed around 2.3 million people and generates around 14% of the Kenya’s States Agency for International Development (USAID) considers that MSE employ a third or more of the labor force in low income countries (USAID, 2010). Wanambisi and Bwisa (2013) showed that the MSE sector employed around 2.3 million people and generates around 14% of the Kenya’s
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