FACTORS HINDERING GROWTH OF WOMEN OWNED MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES: A CASE OF MICRO FINANCE BORROWERS IN MAKADARA, NAIROBI
George Kiyai - Ph.D. (Finance) Fellow, School of Business, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya
Dr. Mary Namusonge - Lecturer, School of Business, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya
Dr. Ambrose Jagongo - Lecturer, School of Business, Kenyatta, Nairobi, Kenya
ABSTRACT
The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector has an important role to play in Kenya’s drive towards industrialization as well as its quest for poverty eradication. To the extent that this is true, SMEs need to grow. The limited access of SMEs to credit and financial services is often presented as one of the most important supply constraints confronting the SME sector and research findings indicate that financial problems are one of the main reasons why relatively few SMEs graduate into larger enterprises. This paper sought to analyse constraints faced by women entrepreneurs after loan that impeded growth of their enterprises. The study findings showed that a majority of the sampled enterprises have not expanded despite getting MFI loans. Major policy interventions recommended relate to an evaluation of the credit methodologies of MFIs in line with the business needs of the entrepreneurs. The paper offers some background on Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) growth, conceptual framework, empirical review of literature on MSEs growth.
