Determinants Of Sustainability Of Micro And Small Enterprises Owned By Youth In Nairobi City County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

The aim of the study was to establish the determinants of sustainability of micro and small enterprises owned by youth in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: To assess how competitive environment affects sustainability of youth entrepreneurship in micro and small enterprises in Nairobi City County, Kenya; To find out how entrepreneurial skills affect sustainability of youth entrepreneurship in micro and small enterprises in Nairobi City County, Kenya; To examine how access to funds influence sustainability of youth entrepreneurship in micro and small enterprises in Nairobi City County, Kenya; To explore how technology influence sustainability of youth entrepreneurship in micro and small enterprises in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The conceptual framework assumed that the dependent variable that is sustainability of micro and small enterprises was influenced by a range of other variables, including: competitive environment (product differentiation, competitive edge and fair play); access to finance (credit facility, working capital, collateral); Entrepreneurial skills (record keeping, managerial skills and budgeting) and technology (technology in production, transfer and marketing). The study was built on theories such as porter’s theory of competitive advantage, the rival theory, resource based view theory and economic theory of entrepreneurship. The study was undertaken in Nairobi County and delimited by specifically concentrating on the determinants of sustainability of micro and small enterprises owned by youth. The study adopted a descriptive research design. There were 3330 registered youth enterprises in Nairobi City County in the small and micro enterprises as per Micro and Small Enterprise Authority of Kenya records. The sample size was 97 youth enterprises and questionnaires were used as data collection instrument in order to obtain primary data. The reliability and validity of data collection tool was carried out. Regression analysis was used to establish the direction and strength of the relationship between the independent variables and dependent variable at .05 level of significance.The study found that there was a correlation between the independent variables and dependent variable. This implied that these independent variables were very significant and they needed to be considered to boost sustainability of youth entrepreneurship in Nairobi City County. Based on the findings, the study concluded that sustainability of micro and small enterprises owned by youth in Nairobi City County was affected by competitive environment, access to funds, entrepreneurial skills and technology.