MST-Department of Gender and Development Studies

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Browsing MST-Department of Gender and Development Studies by Subject "Gender Analysis and Performance"

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    Gender Analysis and Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kericho County, Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2022) Miyawa, Harrison Joshua; Casper Masiga
    Entrepreneurship is increasingly recognized as an important driver of economic growth, productivity, innovation and employment, and it is widely accepted as a key aspect of economic dynamism. The Kenyan economy relies heavily on small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to support livelihoods and provide jobs. Over 15 million people are reportedly employed in the sector, which also adds about 30% to the country's overall worth. Despite this, MSMEs nevertheless face many difficulties that hinder their growth, chief among which is their limited access to financing. Thus, the study was informed. The goal of this survey was to analyze the performance of SMEs among the gender in Kericho County. The objectives of the survey were; to explore the extent of gender influence on performance of SMEs after accessing credit from micro-finance institutions, to find out the challenges affecting performance of SMEs funded by micro-finance institutions, to identify the factors contributing to gender gap in SMEs performance and to establish entrepreneurship’s characteristics that influence access to credit from micro-credit institutions. The institutional theory, which focuses on elements that are externally or internally central inside the company and sustainable innovation, served as the study's main theoretical framework. The research design for the survey was a descriptive survey. The researcher created the state of affairs in the field for this study, and no variable was altered, leading to the decision to use a descriptive survey research design. Purposive sampling was utilized to interview management officials while random sampling was used in group interview. The target population was 1000 SMEs operators in Kericho County and the sample for the study was 44 households. Structured questionnaires for business owners and interview guides for in-depth information from microcredit employees served as the primary data gathering instruments for this study. In order to determine the uniformity of responses, the reliability testing formula known as the prophesy was used. The pilot instrument was split into two equal halves, and the correlation coefficients between the two halves were determined by Spearman-Brown. The survey findings established that most of the SME were started in the last five years, between 2006 and 2021. This can be attributed to several factors in the Kenya economy such as structural adjustment programs (SAPs). The major source of capital was savings from the farming and micro-credit institutions. The government and NGOs should ensure that finances are made available to both men and women in business. This could be done through awareness campaign on the existence of such financial institutions with the help of the government. This will improve capital base and create more opportunities hence assisting in reducing unemployment which is the main purpose of the informal sector. The government should come up with a policy that require micro-finance institution and NGOs in individual capacities or in collaboration with the government to have a human resource or manpower development to train the target population before accessing credit or loans.