THE Philippines' economy owes much of its success to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which make up more than 99 percent of businesses in the country and employ around 62 percent of the workforce. Unfortunately, despite playing such a crucial role in the economy, these essential businesses face many barriers to growth when it comes to accessing business funding.

A new report from cloud banking platform Mambu, titled 'Small businesses, big growth,' surveyed over 1,000 small business owners globally, including 100 Filipino SME owners, who set up their company and applied for a business loan in the last five years.