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

Abstract

There has been a great attention by the government of Kenya on women entrepreneurship over the last nine years. Several policies have been enacted that could support the growth and performance of women entrepreneurship in Kenya. The Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) was established in 2007 to assist women in the development of their enterprises. This study sought to bridge the gap by establishing the effects of WEF's training on sales performance of women grocery micro-entrepreneurs in Thika Sub-County in Kenya. The study examined the effects of WEF's training on sales performance of women grocery micro-entrepreneurs. A cross-sectional descriptive survey research design was used. The sampling technique used was simple random sampling, since it produced the most productive sample to test the research hypotheses. A sample size of 111 women grocery micro-entrepreneurs was used out of a population of 371 women grocery micro-entrepreneurs. Data was collected using structured questionnaires from the respondents. The study was guided by the human capital theory. One sample t-test (before and after comparison) and multivariate regression was used to analyze data collected at 5% significance level with the help of SPSS software. The analysed results were presented using frequency distribution tables, bar graphs and pie charts. 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 the type of training (that is, business skills, market access and basic information, communication and technology training) had significant effect on the sales performance of women grocery micro-entrepreneurs than the frequency of training (that is, the number of times a woman micro-entrepreneur has been trained. On the basis of the study results, the researcher recommends for the performance of women micro-entrepreneurs to improve drastically WEF has to focus more on providing quality training especially market access skills. It is therefore, hoped that the outcomes and recommendations of this study will be of help to WEF and other women entrepreneurship stakeholders to address the sales performance challenges in Thika Sub-County and the nation at large.