Influence of microfinance services on empowerment of women entrepreneurs in Kibera constituency, Nairobi county, Kenya
Abstract
This study sought to examine the influence of microfinance services on empowerment of women
entrepreneurs in Kenya, with a specific focus on Kibera Constituency, Nairobi County. The
study objectives focused on microfinance credit facilities, micro finance savings, micro finance
training and collateral requirements as influencers of the empowerment of the women
entrepreneurs in Kibera Constituency. The research methodology of this study was a descriptive
survey design with the research targeting women entrepreneurs engaged in small scale trade in
Kibera Constituency who have sought microfinance services. The total target population
consisted of 450 women entrepreneurs and the sample size was 216 respondents, with 6 of these
respondents being key informants in the study. The analysed data was tabulated for presentation,
with frequency distribution and percentages used to show the relationships between the variables
of the study. The findings on microfinance credit facilities indicated that the women were
appreciative of the loans they received but they felt they would benefit if they got larger
amounts, which would translate into larger incomes. Some respondents were able to save some
money to put back into their businesses, but a majority barely got by from their income and
saved even less after obtaining loans. In terms of training, they attended and reported to have
benefited from it, but on the ground it did not seem to have translated to better management
skills, partly because of the literacy levels of most respondents. Collateral requirements hindered
them from obtaining desired loans because most women did not own property such as land or
houses in their names. The study recommends that restructuring the collateral requirements by
the women entrepreneurs by using credit scoring and business history as alternatives to assetbased
security can really be beneficial to all stakeholders. Other documents such as Local
Purchasing Orders (LPO‘s) should suffice as loan security. There is also the need to broaden the
training manual to include several other business aspects in order to widen the commercial
capacity by the women entrepreneurs in Kibera. More training on entrepreneurial skills needs to
be undertaken, but it should be couched in a user-friendly language. Competitive and flexible
interest rates that will encourage more women to borrow more frequently should be introduced,
because there is evidence that there is a hunger for affordable credit among the respondents. It is
also evident that these microfinance services are impacting the lives of women entrepreneurs in
Kibera. Women should also be allowed to draw part of their Table Banking savings for
emergency purposes, with each case being individually assessed. This will reduce their usage of
business capital for personal situations. These findings may be used by policy makers and
institutions especially those in the microfinance services to develop policy framework which will
take care of gender issues in micro financing in Kenya.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Description
Thesis
Collections
- Faculty of Education (FEd) [5964]