Factors Affecting Growth Of Businesses Owned By Persons Living With Disabilities In Kitale Town Tranzoia County, Kenya

Over the past two decades, the term 'entrepreneurship' has received ever-increasing levels of media and government attention. The primary reason for such attention is the well-documented evidence of the positive relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth. It has therefore been in the best interests of a nation's economy for governments to engender an entrepreneurial culture that advances the development of indigenous enterprise, and the promotion of individual 'entrepreneurial heroes' within such a culture furthers such a goal. People with disabilities are estimated to comprise 5-7% of the total population in Kenya, and it is a major cause of poverty due to dependency. Individuals with disabilities are not only prone to poverty, but they are subject to prejudice, social isolation and discrimination. Formal education for most people with disabilities in Kenya is a challenge mainly because most of them are intimidated by their disability. However, according to Harper and Momm (1989), there are a number of positive factors which may make it easier, rather than harder, for some people with disabilitiesto survive in their own businesses. Indeed, they further argued that very often it is the psychological condition of people with disabilities that makes them particularly likely topersevere in self-employment and to do well. Therefore, to  bridge this gap we sought to study the factors affecting business growth of businesses within persons living with disabilities in Kitale municipality. The specific objectives that guided this study was: To establish whether business training affect business growth of businesses owned by persons living with disabilities, to determine how technology influence business growth of businesses owned by persons living with disabilities, to establish the effect of government policies on the business growth of businesses owned by persons living with disabilities and to establish whether start-up capital influence business growth of businesses owned by persons living with disabilities. The study design was descriptive. The target population composed of 1150 entrepreneurs with disability. However, a sample size of 115 entrepreneurs with disability was selected.