| dc.description.abstract | Group lending has received a great attention from economists and policymakers for its
successful delivery of credit to poor borrowers and its role in alleviating poverty in the
developing countries. While there is a host of theoretical models explaining the success
of group lending, empirical research has lagged behind. The focus of this study was to
establish the influence of micro finance institutions group lending mechanism on
enterprise development among rural women in TransNzoia West sub-county, Kenya. The
objectives of the study were to: evaluate the influence of joint liability on enterprise
development of rural women; examine the influence of training on rural women
enterprise development of rural women; determine the influence of the group
representation on rural women enterprise development of rural women and assess the
influence of the loan size on rural women enterprise development of rural women. The
study utilized a descriptive survey research design. The study targeted the rural women
development groups that access loans as a group within Trans Nzoia West County. The
total target population comprised of 781 members and by using Krajcie and Morgan table
of determining sample size, the sample size consisted of 260 respondents. There was also
8 key informants from the micro-finance institutions within TransNzoia County. Both
open-ended and close-ended questionnaires were used, as well as an interview guide for
the key informants. In this research, descriptive statistics was used. The questionnaires
were edited first for accuracy, and completeness. The study used frequency distribution
and percentages, and computer software-Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS)
as a tool of analyzing data, and to establish relationships between variables. The analyzed
data was tabulated for presentation. The study established that joint liability mechanism
was an effective mechanism of ensuring that borrowed funds were appropriately utilized
mainly towards the development of their enterprises, and through it women group
members had acquired various business linkages and networks. The study also
established that most of the women group members had not attended any attended any
technical/ entrepreneurial training on group borrowing for enterprise development despite
it having an influence on the growth of the women owned enterprises in the Sub-County.
The study further established that that through the numbers of the women group members
they were able to easily access loans. Lastly, the study established that women groups
got between Kshs 30,000 and Kshs 40,000 which was encouraging since such an amount
could provide the women group enterprise with a strong base for development. Women
groups‘ lack of collateral limited their access loans to initiate businesses. The study
recommends that there should be some enhanced and standardized training for all the
women group members who intend to develop enterprises. The loans should be
remodeled towards more of individual lending than group lending since at enterprise
development members in a group cannot have the same thinking level, attitude and
commitment as there are personal differences. It is hoped that, the findings of this study
will assist the government policy makers to focus more on micro finance institutions as a
means of promoting development of women group enterprises as means of uplifting the
socio-economic status of women in Kenya. | en_US |
