Financial Services Access and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in Mombasa City, Kenya

Small scale and medium businesses (SMEs) contribute immensely towards the gross domestic product (GDP) of any nation. They account for a large percentage of the jobs in many countries. In consideration of these, the researchers sought to find out if a change in financial services access brings out a shift in growth of SMEs in Mombasa city, Kenya. The study focused on businesses in existence for five years after inception. Primary data was obtained, from 345 enterprises through a purposive random sample from licensed SMEs in the financial year 2020/2021, in Mombasa County. Except for banc assurance services the study showed a positive correlation between lending services, business training, bancassurance and digital banking with growth of small and medium enterprises. However, it found out a negative association between financial saving and the dependent variable. In consideration of these, the study recommends financial institutions to facilitate good working relationship between their credit departments with SMEs. This, in turn will boost uptake of credit services for realization of growth among small and medium enterprises. Insurance institutions to coordinate their partnership with banks to be able to accelerate uptake of bancassurance services. Governments to establish incentives on ICT firms that innovate products targeting financial services access and SMEs operations integrations. Furthermore, the county governments to fund trainings conducted by financial institutions to encourage them conduct frequent seminars and workshops among the SMEs owners and managers. This willboost knowledge and skill base, that ultimatelyassist businesses owners run their SMEs efficiently and effectively