This research of registered businesses with one to four employees was conducted in Ethiopia between July 2011 and May 2012, at the same time with Ethiopia Enterprise Survey 2011. Data from 150 establishments was analyzed. Stratified random sampling was used to select the surveyed businesses. The objective of the survey is to obtain feedback from enterprises on the state of the private sector and constraints to its growth.
Micro-Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, AIDS, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90 percent of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country's business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents' opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance.