| dc.description.abstract | Financial literacy plays a critical role in influencing the positive financial behaviors’ and
member participation in pension schemes in addition to reducing debt loads, knowledge
gains and accumulating wealth and managing it effectively. Financial literacy enhances
the development of new financial products, the complexity of financial markets, and the
changes in political, demographic, and economic factors. However, in developing
countries like Kenya, the informal markets dominate the economic scene, yet rarely do
the self-employed receive any formal training or financial literacy programmes to assist
them on how to run their businesses in order to build knowledge and capacity, as well as
to minimize failure in running a business. This study sought to establish the influence of
financial literacy training on self-employment among the youths in Thika Town
constituency by investigating the extent to which source of capital, creation of new
ventures, access to markets training as well as financial management behavior have
contributed to self-employment. To achieve the objectives, the study adopted a
descriptive survey design. The study targeted 432 youth entrepreneurs who have received
financial literacy training by Mercy Corp International (Mercy Corp International 2013).
The study used simple random sampling technique to select a study sample. Data was
collected using questionnaires and an interview guide. The researcher administered the
questionnaire through a drop and pick later method. Further, the researcher personally
administered the interview guides to the interviewees. The data collected was then
analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study concludes that financial literacy training
programmes had a positive impact towards youth’s engagement in self employment
activities. The study found out that new venture creation training, financial management
training, venture capital financing training and training on access to market were very
important among the young people entering in the field of entrepreneurship and those
who were already in business. The study established that through these training, youths
are able to develop and articulate their business ideas, identify areas that have not been
adequately ventured into, give their financial statement, and develop confidence of
marketing their products and services among others. From these findings, the researcher
hoped that the new and the existing entrepreneur would be able to generate more business
opportunities and enact them in ways that expand their own capabilities, thus remaining
competitive in the field of entrepreneurship. It is therefore recommended that government
and other stakeholder should ensure that youth financial literacy programs are carried out
on ongoing basis to ensure that the youths are able to start business, develop new products
and expand their businesses; this would go a long way in ensuring financial independence
of the youths. | en_US |
