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This paper examines the influence of perceived university and institutional support on business start-up intentions using empirical data collected from 391 technical graduates in Tanzania. Specifically, the paper examines the influence of perceived educational, concept, and business development support on business start-up intentions and the mediating effect of institutional support on the hypothesized relationships. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to examine the influence of perceived university support on business start-up intentions and the mediating effect of institutional support on the hypothesized relationships. The findings indicate that concept development and institutional support significantly influenced business start-up intentions. However, institutional support partially mediated the influence of perceived university support on business start-up intentions through concept development support but fully mediated through educational and business development support. Conclusively, institutional support matters a lot if colleges and universities are to properly groom and orient graduates towards business start-ups. Technical colleges and universities should employ experiential pedagogical methods while designing tailor-made business development services to equip graduates with know-how and hands-on skills to enhance their potential to venture into business start-ups.

This study aimed to assess the extent to which microcredit women clients practice microcredit fungibility, the factors contributing to microcredit fungibility, and whether credit fungibility affects the performance of the supported microenterprise. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed using logistic regression analysis and the Hayes Process Macro Linear-Based regression analysis. Results have shown that approximately 70% of sampled borrowers acknowledged engaging in microcredit fungibility, and the borrowers were likely to practice fungibility if they were married, had dependent children, and owned multiple businesses. The number of household members with income sources and the education level of the borrower were negatively related to fungibility. The findings also established that although microcredit plays an essential role in the entrepreneurial pursuits of women microcredit clients, its effectiveness hinges on how the funds are utilised. Results suggest that microcredit fungibility attenuates the impact of microcredit on enterprise performance. Conversely, the number of household members with income sources, the borrowers’ level of education, and the duration of membership in the microfinance programme influenced enterprise performance significantly, while marriage exhibited a negative relationship with enterprise performance. Decision-making by the business owner, the number of dependent children, and ownership of different sources of income by the borrower do not affect business performance significantly. The study recommends microfinance programmes to understand borrower characteristics and household economic portfolios before disbursing the funds. Moreover, providing financial and business skills training to help borrowers grow and manage their businesses and finances effectively is crucial.