Influence Of Socio-Economic Factors On Performance Of Youth Entreprise Development Fund Projects In Yatta Constituency, Kenya

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of socio-economic factors on performance of Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) Projects in Yatta Constituency of Machakos County in Kenya. The study was guided by assessing education, mentor support on YEDF projects, entrepreneurship training and market access for their produce. The findings from this study provide useful insights that could be used by the government and Non-governmental organization, funding agencies and any development actors to promote youth entrepreneurship as a viable alternative source of employment to youths in Kenya. The target population in this study consisted of 36 youth entrepreneurs groups between (18-35) years of age from Yatta constituency in Machakos County, engaged in various business activities operating within the county. The study focused on micro and small enterprises owned and operated by youth entrepreneurs involved in the provision of various goods and services. The sample size for this study was determined using the Krejcie and Morgan table. Accordingly, from this table the sample size for 360 young people, 186 youths were selected for this study. This study used descriptive survey design. The research instrument used for data collection was questionnaires. Both inferential and descriptive data were collected. Research objective 1 in this study was to investigate the influence of education on the performance of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund Projects. With a mean of 4.0, it indicated that education influences the performance of Youth Enterprise Development Funds Projects. Research objective 2 in this study was to investigate the influence of mentor support on the performance of Youth Enterprise Development Fund Projects. With a mean of 3.9, it indicated that mentor support influences the performance of Youth Enterprise Development Fund Projects. Research objective 3 in this study was to investigate the influence of entrepreneurship training on the performance of Youth Enterprise Development Fund Projects. With a mean of 3.9, it indicated that entrepreneurship training influences the performance of Youth Enterprise Development Fund Projects. Research objective 4 in this study was to investigate the influence of access to markets on the performance of Youth Enterprise Development Fund Projects. With a mean of 3.9, it indicated that access to markets influences the performance of Youth Enterprise Development Fund Projects. This study recommended that linkages need to be developed for the youth with markets available, similar study should be carried out in other constituencies to find out whether the same results will be obtained and that further research should be carried out to see how government regulations affect the performance of Youth Enterprise Development Funds Project.