Effects of Women Enterprise Fund's Training on Profit Performance of Women Grocery Micro-Entrepreneurs in Thika Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

The Kenyan government established the Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) in 2007 with a mandate of capacity building among women entrepreneurs through increased access to training.  This is to ensure that training is available to both sexes in support for gender unbiased employment, and most importantly to improve the performance of women in micro and small enterprises which had been observed to be low as compared to their male counterparts. Their enterprises were smaller, less profitable, and began with less capital investment than those owned by men. However, since the initiatives were introduced by the government, there is little documentation on the effects of Women Enterprise Fund's training on profit performance of women grocery micro-entrepreneurs in Thika sub County, Kiambu County. Thus, this study sought to determine the effects of WEF's training, since the information and knowledge generated through the study would be crucial in knowing the effectiveness of the training on the profits of women grocery micro entrepreneurs in Thika sub County, Kiambu County. The study examined the effects of WEF's training on profits among women grocery micro-entrepreneurs. A cross-sectional descriptive survey research design was used. The sampling technique used was simple random sampling. A sample size of 111 women entrepreneurs was used out of a population of 371 women entrepreneurs. Data was collected using structured questionnaires from the respondents. The study was guided by the human capital theory. Paired t-test and ordinate logistic regression were used to analyze quantitative data collected at 5% significance level with the help of STATA software. Validity of the instruments was achieved through expert judgement of the research supervisors and WEF's officials. Reliability was tested by subjecting the instruments to a pilot study through the test-retest technique. The study established that WEF's training had significant effects on the profits performance of women grocery micro-entrepreneurs. Mean score for monthly profits after the WEF training was significantly higher than the monthly profit scores before the WEF training. In view of the findings and the conclusion drawn above, this study makes the following recommendation that womengrocery micro-entrepreneurs in the study area should be encouraged to take advantage WEF's training in order to increase their profits.