Factors influencing accessibility to finance by small scale women entrepreneurs in Sotik sub county, Bomet county, Kenya.
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to investigate factors influencing accessibility to finance by small
scale Women entrepreneurs in kipsonoi ward, Bomet County. The study was guided by the
objectives, influence of literacy level, number of lending institutions, collateral and interests rate
on accessibility of finance by women entrepreneurs in Kipsonoi ward. This study targeted all 100
women operating licenced small businesses in kipsonoi ward. They are found in small market
centers. Data will be collected by use of questionnaires composed of open ended and closed
ended questions because it will be easy to administer, cheap and less time consuming. Because
of few licensed small scale women entrepreneurs in kipsonoi ward sampling will not be done but
instead census method is used. The purpose of the study was to investigate factors influencing
accessibility of finance by Women entrepreneurs in Kipsonoi ward. The study was guided by the
following Objectives: a)To establish how level of literacy influence accessibility of finance by
small scale women entrepreneurs in Kipsonoi ward d)To assess how the number of lending
institution influence accessibility of finance by small women entrepreneurs in Kipsonoi ward. c)
To examine to what extend demand of collaterals influences accessibility of finance by small
scale women entrepreneurs in Kipsonoi ward. To assess how interest rates influence accessibility
of finance by small scale women entrepreneurs in Kipsonoi ward. The study used questionnaires
to solicit information in line with objectives of the study. Target population of a survey is the
entire set of units for which the survey data are to be used to make inferences. It defines those
units for which the findings of the survey are meant to generalize. Piloting was done using split
half technique. It was then edited, organized and analyzed using statistical packages for social
sciences. The study was done in Kipsonoi ward, Bomet County of Kenya. A questionnaire was
used to collect the data and split-half technique was used in piloting of the study. Opinions of
experts, peer review were used to check the validity of the instruments and reliability calculated
using Pearson’s product moment correlation co-efficient. Data was collected after obtaining a
research permit from the relevant authorities. There are 100 licenced small scale women
entrepreneurs who are engaged in different kind of business in Kipsonoi ward. Because of small
number of small scale women entrepreneurs in Kipsonoi ward, all of them were sampled, census
method was used. This study used descriptive survey design. Descriptive survey designs are used
when the objectives are systematic or descriptive of facts and characteristics of a given
population or sample of the population or area of interest is factual and accurate. In Kipsonoi
ward, level of education of majority of licenced small scale women entrepreneurs 53(53%) is
primary and below thus literacy level is very low among them, majority of women entrepreneurs
96(96%) in Kipsonoi ward rarely engaged in training,42(42%) of small scale entrepreneurs are in
the age bracket of ( 36-40) ,96(96%) does not have any form of collateral and this is one of the
factors they cannot access credit finance from lending institution .2(2%) borrow loan very
frequently,5(5%) do it frequently, majority of them 90(90%) does it occasionally and 3(3%)
rarely borrow loan. 50(50%) have taken an average of one year of repayment,53(53%) who are
the majority are of the opinion that they are hardly accessible to any lending institution. Based on
the findings, conclusions, recommendations and recommendations for policy formulation were
drawn. Recommendations for further research was also established so as to fill the gaps that
might have been left out in the research.
Publisher
University of Nairobi