Factors influencing performance of small and medium enterprise tea firms in Mombasa County, Kenya

Abstract

The SME sector contributes greatly to the economic growth and thus currently recognized and therefore there are high expectations of the SME sector. The purpose of this study was to establish factors influencing the performance of small and medium enterprises (SME) Tea firms in Mombasa County, Kenya. To achieve this, the study was guided by four objectives which included: to examine how access to finance influence the performance of SMEs Tea firms in Mombasa County, Kenya; to establish how availability to business information services influencing the performance of SMEs Tea firms in Mombasa County, Kenya; to determine the extent of the association between entrepreneurs attributes and performance of SMEs Tea firms in Mombasa County, Kenya and to establish the influence of government policies and regulations on the performance of SMEs Tea firms in Mombasa County, Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The study population was 120 SME Tea Firms owners in Mombasa County. This study used simple random sampling to sample 93 respondents. The study used a questionnaire in order to collect data. The questionnaire had both open and close ended questions. The completed questionnaires were checked for completeness to ensure consistency. The data was then coded to enable the responses to be grouped into various categories. The findings were presented by use of tables. From the findings the study concluded that that regulatory and administrative environment cause major obstacles for SME Tea Firms to access financing. The study also concluded that credit and collateral policies did not allow SMEs to use certain assets as collateral. The study concluded that access to information had been not given the same attention as other constraints to improve the performance of SME and those SMEs that made good use of structured marketing information services experienced higher business performance. The study concludes that the government provides training and development for SMEs on marketing of tea outside Kenya. The study made the following recommendations: the Government of Kenya should adopt ways on how to finance SMEs; business information services need to be made accessible to all business people in the market and government policy and regulations that affect the business should be adjusted so that to ensure they do not affect the performance of the business in a negative way.