Abstract:
This study aimed to investigate how Business Development Services impact the growth potential
of Micro and Small Enterprises in Bahir Dar City Administration by considering BDS support
provided by DOT Ethiopia, Bahir Dar BDS Center. The study employed a descriptive and
explanatory research design. To address this and answer specific research questions. The
research used a census technique to select all 200 MSE beneficiaries of Bahir Dar BDS Center of
DOT Ethiopia who had taken full BDS within two years. Quantitative data were collected using
five-point Likert-Scale questionnaires, and out of survey questionnaires 191 responses were
properly filled. Then the responses were analyzed with the support of Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) version-20 software and summarized to relate the variables that were collected
from these respondents. The study used both inferential (correlation and regression analysis) and
descriptive (mean and standard deviation) methods. The descriptive analysis’s findings showed
DOT Ethiopia Bahir Dar BDS center offered effective BDS training, access to the market and
finance, and business coaching services to MSEs within the Bahir Dar City Administration.
Pearson correlation results also revealed that all study predictors (access to finance, BDS
training, business coaching services, and access to the market) are positively related to the growth
potential of MSEs. The result of multiple linear regression analysis indicated that predictors
(access to finance, BDS training, business coaching services, and access to the market) had a
statistically significant effect on the growth potential of Micro and Small Enterprises in Bahir Dar
City Administration at 5% of significant level and all these four predictors collectively explain
65.4 percent of the variation in growth of MSEs. Finally, the study recommended that stakeholders
improve the current situation of access to finance for MSEs and should provide adequate market
information, create market access, and fulfil adequate networks to improve the growth of MSEs’
performance in the study area.