Effect of Environmental and Political/Legal Risk Management on Performance of Commercial Real Estate Entrepreneurial Investments in Kenya

Abstract

The study adopted a descriptive survey design having a quantitative approach. The target population for this study was 9,320 real estate entrepreneurs comprised of 884, 95, 320 and 8,021 sourced from Softkenya directory, Kenya Developers Association, Estate Agent Registration Board and National Construction Authority respectively and having their registered offices in Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu and Eldoret. A sample size of 384 real estate entrepreneurs was selected and using a stratified random sampling procedure, them that participated in the study were identified and later served with online questionnaires using their emails. The primary data that was collected then analyzed descriptively and inferentially. Environmental risk management was found to a have a statistically significance effect on performance of commercial real estate entrepreneurial investments in Kenya. It further reveals that incomplete environmental analysis and unpredictable weather patterns were the two most frequent and severe sources of environmental risk. Political/legal risk management was however found not to have a statistically significant effect on the performance of the entrepreneurial investments. The study recommends the need by the concern authorities to enforce full compliance of environmental requirements before any entrepreneurial investment commences and throughout its life cycle and aided by real estate entrepreneurs and other stakeholders should further scrutinise all approvals that an entrepreneur requires with a view to determine the viability in the long run of the number of approvals as well as the number of institutions mandated to issue these approvals, ultimately aiming at establishing a one-stop shop in every County where all needed approval could be obtained.