Les tontines favorisent-elles la performance des entreprises au Cameroun ?

Rotating Savings and Credit Associations known as tontines in Cameroon and elsewhere in French-speaking Africa are one of the most popular mechanisms to finance projects in countries where access to credit markets is constrained. In this study, we analyze the effect of participation to business tontines on the performance of firms. Using a data set on manufacturing firms, we examine in particular the hypothesis that social networks associated to tontines allow to gain access to credit, to surmount deficiencies in the formal credit market and improve performance. We observe that tontines positively affect firms? growth and employment. Moreover, our results support the hypothesis that tontines? resources are used to finance cash flow instead of increasing capital or investments.