Factors Affecting the Growth of Youth Micro Enterprises in Kikuyu, Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine factors affecting the growth of youth microenterprises in Kikuyu constituency. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The data was collected through a self-administered structured questionnaire. The research instrument was piloted for validity through content related method and reliability through half-split criterion. The target population was all the youth microenterprises operating in Kikuyu constituency. Given that there was no sampling frame, the sample size was determined using purposeful sampling. Thus, a sample size of 162 registered microenterprises was used. Out of the 162 questionnaires that were administered, 140 questionnaires were duly filled and returned and therefore regarded as the responsive instrument and formed the basis for data analysis. This formed a questionnaire return rate of 86.42%. Data was analyzed through the use of a computer software SPSS. The data collected was analyzed by descriptive statistics. Factor analysis was conducted to determine the factor affecting the growth of microenterprises. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used to describe the data. The analyzed data was presented in form of tables. The study found out managerial skills, innovation, training and mentorship, financing, networking and enterprise culture affect the growth of microenterprise with a correlation coefficient of 0.964, 0.913, 0.847, 0.981, 0.756, and 0.793 respectively. The study recommends that the government needs to establish training centers for training managerial and technical courses for the small enterprises entrepreneurs as well as business information centers. The study further suggests that more research be carried out to determine the role of technology in the growth of microenterprises.