Factors Affecting Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises Owned by the Youth in Nairobi

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine factors affecting the growth factors affecting growth of SMEs owned by the youth in Nairobi Central Business District. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The data was collected through a self-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 owned SMEs operating in Nairobi CBD. The study used purposive sampling to target 67 youth owned enterprises within the Nairobi CBD. The return rate from the survey was 60 questionnaires which formed about 89.6%. Data was analyzed through the use of a computer software SPSS. The data collected was analyzed by descriptive statistics. Factor analysis was done to determine factors affecting the growth of microenterprises. Analyzed data was presented in form of tables. The study found out access to finance, innovation, government policies and non-financial factors affect the growth of microenterprise with a correlation coefficient of 0.913, 0.847, and 0.756 respectively. The study recommends that the government needs to establish avenues for youth learning on how to run their businesses successfully.