Assessing the Effects of the Mobile Money Service on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: Study on EVC-Plus Services in Somalia

Abstract
The development of the mobile money services permits the businesses and
the individuals to get access to the financial services and become part of the
financial system. Access to the financial system is a key drive to business
growth and entrepreneurial development in Somalia and in many parts of the
world. The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of the mobile money services to the growth of the small and the medium sized enterprises in Somalia. We applied dynamic capability theory to examine the factors that affect the business growth. This study employed cross sectional research design and used quantitative techniques to analyze the data of the study.
The target population of the study was business owners that are in major cities in Somalia. A sample of 138 business categorized by trade, services and
manufactures were studied. Descriptive and the inferential statistics were used
to analyze the cross-section data collected from the various respondents. For
regression analysis, Robust Least Squares (ROBUSTLS), is used to estimate
the model parameters of the study. We rejected null hypothesis examined by
this study and we found that all variables have a positive contribution that is
different from zero and being statistically significant. The result shows that a
one percent increase of the access to finance contributes to business grow of
about (0.186%) while a (1%) increase sales growth, leads business to grow
about (0.183%). The enhancement of the risk management by (1%) increases
business grows to about (0.225%). The product development is a dominant
variable that leads to business growth as (1%) increase of the product development, leads business to grow about (0.254%). These results indicate that
mobile money service has a positive and significant influence to the business’s
ability to access the finances. The increase of the mobile money adoption by