INFLUENCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING ON PERFORMANCE OF YOUTH SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN MAARA SUB-COUNTY, THARAKA-NITHI COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) provide social and economic advantages to youths who are unable to find salaried employment in the formal sector. The SMEs are widely recognized as major sources of employment, poverty alleviation and economic development. The Government of Kenya has initiated several policies to stimulate growth in small business ownership and entrepreneurship. Such policy initiatives include: the session paper number 2 of 2005, poverty reduction strategy paper of 1999-2015 and MSE Bill of 2006. The Ministry of Youth Affairs established Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) in 2007 as a source of capital for youth-registered groups to start and grow their businesses. However, many youth-owned enterprises face numerous challenges with low productivity, stagnation in growth and high failure rate. Subsequently, entrepreneurship education and training is increasingly becoming recognized as a critical element to tackle global unemployment challenges by involving the youths in business ownership and entrepreneurship. This study determined the influence of entrepreneurship training on sustainability and performance of youth-owned enterprises in Maara sub-county. Descriptive research survey design was applied on a population of 230 registered youth-owned SMEs enterprises with 147 enterprises taken as the sample using stratified random sampling method. Youths who attended entrepreneurship training performed better in their businesses. Thus entrepreneurship training was important and critical to the survival and performance of youth-owned enterprises. Thus, provision of YEDF should go hand in hand with entrepreneurship training.