American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 2014, 4, 632-643 Published Online November 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ajibm http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ajibm.2014.411069 How to cite this paper: Ogubazghi, S.K. and Muturi, W. (2014) The Effect of Age and Educational Level of Owner/Managers on SMMEs’ Access to Bank Loan in Eritrea: Evidence from Asmara City. American Journal of Industrial and Business Man- agement, 4, 632-643. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ajibm.2014.411069 The Effect of Age and Educational Level of Owner/Managers on SMMEs’ Access to Bank Loan in Eritrea: Evidence from Asmara City Sebhatu Kefleyesus Ogubazghi, Willy Muturi Economics, Finance and Accounting Department, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Main Campus, Juja, Kenya Email: oksebhatu@yahoo.com Received 24 September 2014; revised 28 October 2014; accepted 7 November 2014 Copyright © 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract The general objective of this study was to find out the influence of owner/manager characteristics on SMEs’ access to bank loan. A sample of 87 small and medium manufacturing enterprises was drawn from Asmara city using proportionate systematic sampling. A reliable primary data was collected through semi structured and structured questionnaires which were personally adminis- tered by the researcher. Descriptive and econometric statistical analysis techniques were used to analyze the data. The study, using logistic regression, found out that age of the owner/manager has significant effect on SMMEs’ access to bank loan. On the other hand, educational level of the owner/manager does not have significant effect on access to bank loan. Both the variables have positive effect on SMMEs’ access to bank loan. Keywords Access to Bank Loan, Eritrea, Human Capital, Logit, Owner/Manager Characteristics, SMEs 1. Introduction Poverty trap has been the main challenge for young developing countries, like Eritrea. The development, growth and prosperity of SMEs contribute to the poverty alleviation [1], by creating employment, strengthening eco- nomic growth, creating diversified economic or industrial base, laying foundation for industrialization, encour- aging entrepreneurship, innovation and competition, and installing equitable income distribution and social sta- bility. Therefore, it is not surprising to observe SMEs attracting interest from policy makers, academics, practi- tioners, and the general public. In various studies employment and GDP have been considered as the two major