Enterprise development is an important objective driving the financial services industry. After decades of directing financial services to micro-enterprise owners, many microfinance institutions (MFIs) are now finding themselves serving a growing number of small business owners. An increasing number of financial technology companies are turning to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as a promising new market segment. Thus, with increasing global attention being directed to SMEs, it seemed fitting to look more deeply at clients of financial service providers and discover what could be learned from entrepreneurs whose businesses can now be classified as emerging SMEs. More specifically: Who are these entrepreneurs? What kinds of businesses do they operate? What have been their growth patterns and hurdles? And how have they utilized financial services to further their growth aspirations?

These are the questions that guided the following study, undertaken as part of a research fellowship for the Center for Financial Inclusion.