INFLUENCE OF WOMEN ENTERPRISE FUND ON THE PERFORMANCE OF WOMEN OWNED AGRIBUSINESS IN THIKA TOWN SUB-COUNTY, KIAMBU COUNTY
Abstract
The government of Kenya has been trying to reduce the gender imbalance by providing financial support to women to raise their incomes and reduce the gap in estimated earned incomes between men and women, a strategy that the government is implementing under the Vision 2030. To achieve this, the government has come up with several initiatives such as establishment of the WEF, Uwezo fund, youth fund, encouraging women participation in public tender by establishing a quota of 30% for youth, women and people with disability among other initiatives. This study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of these initiatives by establishing the influence of Women Enterprise Fund on the performance of women owned agribusiness enterprises in Kenya. In particular, it sought to explore the performance of women owned agribusinesses funded by WEF in Thika Town Constituency. The researcher conducted a descriptive research by use of a descriptive survey design. A set of questionnaires were developed and used to collect data from the respondents. The research instruments were administered with the assistance of a WEF officer who guided the researcher to the various women groups. The collected data was presented in charts and frequency tables and then analysed using Statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 by use of descriptive statistics. The study established that, overall WEF had assisted the women groups to improve performance of their businesses, however, there were some areas that WEF still needed to work on to make better impact on the groups’ business performance especially on amount of funds allocated per group and grace period for repayment visa vis business needs, quality of training and access to markets facilities.
Key Words: Accessabilty, Entrepreneurship Training, Women Enterprise Fund
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v3i4.370
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