Determinants of Profitability on Street Vending in Kisumu Central Business District, Kenya

Abstract

Street vending being a subsector of MSEs exponentially grows with urbanization. The main goal of street vending is to ensure that individuals earn an income and improve on their livelihoods. This however is far from being achieved based on the available evidence especially in Africa that anchors income maximization. The major aim of the study was to establish determinants of profitability of street vending business in Kisumu Central Business District, Kenya. Particularly, it aimed to establish the influence of financial niche, creativity, experience, gender, and level of education on profitability of street vending business in Kisumu Central Business District. This study utilized a descriptive research design. The study population comprised street vending businesses within Kisumu CBD. The study’s sample size was 384 street vending businesses. The study used primary data collected using questionnaire. The questionnaire was selfadministered. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25 was used to analyze data. Data analysis comprised of both descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics involved mean, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages while inferential statistics involved multiple regression analysis. The results were in form of tables. The study concluded that financial niche, creativity, gender, and level of education influenced profitability of street vending business in Kisumu Central Business District. The study findings indicated that financial niche, creativity, experience and, level of education had a weak positive influence on profitability of street vending business. Experience however indicated a negative relationship with profitability. In relation to the findings of the study, the study recommended that the Kenyan government should assess the guidelines governing street vending in a bid to create a favorable environment for the business to continue thriving. The study proposed that a similar study be conducted in another area to determine whether the results would be different from this study.