Factors Affecting Youth Participation in Public Procurement in Kenya: A Survey of Youth Enterprises in Mombasa County

Abstract

Public procurement is the largest single buyer in any given country and sellers within a country seek to have the state as their major buyer thus creating immense competition. This creates a hostile environment for youth owned enterprises due to the presence of larger companies with more resources and capacities. The main objective of the study was to determine the factors affecting youth participation in public procurement. The independent variable of analysis was opportunity awareness, finance availability, regulatory requirements and patronage perception whereas youth participation was the dependent variable. The researcher used descriptive and inferential statistics. A population of 345 youth owned enterprises operating within Mombasa county was used with a sample size of 135 enterprises. The study adopted stratified and systematic random sampling as well as snowballing data collection techniques. Questionnaires were used to obtain data from proprietors of the 135 youth-owned enterprises from whom 95 responses were obtained. Statistical package for social science software version 22.1 (SPSS) was used to analyse data. A Cronbach alpha test was used to establish validity of the questionnaire with 0.72 indicating its validity and reliability. Pearson's correlation between the youth Participation with awareness and Finances was .600 and .510 respectively. Whereas Patronage perception and Regulatory requirements had a negative correlation of -.445 and -.260 respectively with the Dependent Variable. Multiple linear regression was used to analyse the relations between the variables at a 0.05 significance level. The model suggested that 77.7% of youth participation could be explained by the combination of the four selected independent variables. The researcher recommended that government should undertake aggressive moderate/ high risk- high return regulatory restructuring for youth initiatives to work. The government should also enter into more public private partnership with the financial sector to enable youth to access cheaper, faster finances for their business. Computerisation and integration of registration processes will also lead to enhance youth participation. The researcher also recommended rigorous monitory and evaluation efforts for existing youth initiatives such as UWEZO and AGPO to eliminate effects of corruption and patronage.