Influence of Business Development Services on Micro Enterprises performance in Kenya: a Survey of Micro Enterprises in Eldama Ravine Sub County, Baringo County.

Abstract

Background: Micro Enterprises have been regarded as to play significant roles of job creation, poverty alleviation and economic development of many countries worldwide. Given the importance of Micro Enterprise sector in areas of employment creation, growth and poverty alleviation, it is important that it is efficiently managed for effective results within the broader overall economic objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of business development services on Micro Enterprises performance in Kenya. Specifically, this study examined the influence of training services, business mentorship, market access information and business linkage on success of Micro Enterprise Materials and Methods: The study adopted stratified sampling on a target population of 89 Micro Enterprises registered with Micro Enterprises Support Programme Trust in Eldama Ravine Sub County of Baringo County in the year 2019. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires. The data collection instrument was tested for validity and reliability. The reliability had a Cronbach Alpha of 0.826 against a threshold of 0.7 Results: Data collected was analyzed and its findings presented using descriptive and inferential statistics. Inferential analysis on influence of training services, business mentorship, market access, and business linkage on micro-enterprise performance showed that all these four independent variables had significant positive regression with Micro Enterprise performance, p<0.05 .Conclusion: Therefore, the study recommends that in order for the stakeholders to enhance performance of micro enterprises in Kenya, emphasis should be made on providing training services, business mentorship, market access, and business linkage. Special focus should be given to training services which was observed to have the highest influence of this performance. Further studies are also recommended to be carried out on other variables such as business mentorship, market access, and business linkage especially because the sample selection was limited geographically.