| dc.description.abstract | This project paper addresses itself to factors influencing women participation in micro-enterprise based activities, using a case of rural women in Kabuoch area, Homa Bay district, Kenya. Also the problems the women undergo are clearly realized in form of poor performance of their businesses.
In practice, small business problems manifest themselves among those who undertake them for survival reason, i.e. as the only income generator, hence forcing most of them to run out of business. Thus, the underlying objective of the study is to investigate and determine factors that influence the entry of women into economic development groups and problems they face in their endeavors in Kabuoch area.
The basic concepts are reviewed and the hypotheses, the significance of small scale business, their characteristics, factors contributing to starting a business, the sources of capital, methods of data collection and the problems encountered are elucidated.
An analysis of the failure of small scale business and the relationship between the attributes of poor performance, financial problems or failure are discussed.
Results show that there are significant relationships between:
i) Educational levels and business performance. ii) Seasons and performance of business.
However, there was no significant relationship between sex performance, but communication barriers, unhealthy competition, lack of training, formal education, advice (guidance), were related to performance.
Thus in the light of these findings, there is need for the government and Non governmental organizations to take a lead in training every businessman. The government should also create a body to look into small business issues at every district/division, establish good communication system to link small business people with micro-finance institutions and improve technical education.
It was clear that• small scale businesses are very important for economic development of any country since they reduce the rate of unemployment thus, increasing the GNP.
When considering the escalating rate of business failure, the limited employment opportunities and the rapid population growth, there is need for problems facing the informal sector to be addressed by the government and development planners in conjunction with NGOs. These actually influence the participation of more women in micro-enterprise activities, if they are assisted financially and socially. | en |
