Factors Influencing Performance of Youth Owned Enterprises: a Case of Mwingi Township, Kitui County in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the performance of youth owned enterprises in Mwingi Township, Kitui County. Four research objectives were formulated to guide the study. Various literature has been reviewed and research gaps identified on the factors influencing the performance of youth owned enterprises. The literature reviewed revolved around the four objectives of the study which are; to establish the extent to which business associations influence growth of youth owned enterprises, to establish the extent to which education and training influence growth of youth owned enterprises in Mwingi Township, to establish the extent to which credit access influence growth of youth owned enterprises in Mwingi Township and to establish the extent to which enterprise competition influence growth of youth owned enterprises in Mwingi Township. The study employed the descriptive survey design. The target population comprises of 208 youth enterprises registered with Kitui County Government, the sample comprises of 111 respondents. 111 respondents were required to fill structured questionnaires and return them. They all returned them therefore the return rate was 100%. The data was analyzed using SPSS 17and Ms excel and the results presented in tables in form of means, frequencies and percentages. From the analysis, the researcher made some findings in relation to the research objectives. Membership in trade and professional associations among entrepreneurs was found to be low at 9.9%. Most young entrepreneurs 74.8% were found to be working in association with other business people in the same line of business. Also, most young entrepreneurs 32.4% said that membership in the relevant associations influenced business performance to a low extent. Another finding was that only 24.3% of the respondents were found to have the relevant training in their line of business. Most of the respondents said that education and training influenced business performance to a low extent. On credit accessibility, the researcher found that most of the entrepreneurs 55.9% had access to credit. Most of these, 35.5% had only accessed highest amounts of credit of between 10,000 and 50,000. Most of the entrepreneurs 51.4% said it was hard for them to access credit. 52.3% of the respondents said that accessibility to credit influenced to a great extent on performance of a business. On enterprise competition, the researcher found that young entrepreneurs were facing a lot of competition. Most of the respondents, 45.0% said that business competition influenced to a great extent on business performance. It was noted from this study that most young entrepreneurs are not appreciative on the role of education on business performance. This could be the real cause of the lack of relevant training and education among the entrepreneurs.