A small grant for a masters research project:

The Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship Development (IMED) is piloting an equity finance investment scheme and would like to learn from experiences, successes and challenges of investors and investees under this mode. IMED will support one master’s student to undertake a study in this area in 2014.


The issue
External equity finance in Tanzanian SMEs is known to be a rare phenomena. Yet, it offers an opportunity for SMEs to raise capital, share risks, complement knowledge and skills, etc. Many reasons have been put forth to explain why it is difficult for SMEs to access and use equity finance from both local and foreign investors. However, there are a few cases of successful equity investments in SMEs, both from local and foreign investors. This study will examine the experience of SMEs that have accessed equity investments and investors who have placed equity in SMEs to draw lessons for scaling up this form of finance. The study will entail case studies of at least 10 SMEs that have accessed equity investments as a basis for drawing lessons and scaling up this approach. The specific methods will include literature review and interviews with investors and investees and where possible their family.


More details and to apply click here