Social capital and access to credit by SMEs in the city of Bukavu

Many studies carried out to date on business financing highlight the difficult access and/or rationing of SMEs to credit from formal financial institutions. Thus, as a complement to these studies, this study, conducted in the city of Bukavu, aims to evaluate how the attributes of social capital can fluidify the SME - financial institution partnership and thus facilitate access to credit. Specifically, it aims to test, among other variables, the effect of social capital on the granting of credit to SMEs in this entity. Based on data from a sample of 136 owner-managers of SMEs registered with the Provincial Division of SMEs, drawn by proportional stratified sampling and reasoned choice and processed using descriptive statistics, Principal Component Analysis (Factor Analysis) and multiple regression using a Logit model inspired by previous studies and the context of Bukavu, it is observed that, on the one hand, community organization, relationship, honesty, social trust, information sharing and community regulations are the components of the.