INFLUENCE OF PRIOR WORK EXPERIENCE AND WORK SKILLS ON ENTREPRENEURIAL MOTIVATION OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN KENYA: A SURVEY OF SELECTED MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS IN NAIROBI

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is a crucial activity for economic growth and employment generation globally. (IMF, 2018). While, the majority of business owners in Kenya are women, entrepreneurship is still regarded as mainly work, and women, especially in the informal sector, have been made invisible. One of the government challenges is ensuring adequate support to informal women entrepreneurs to ensure the sustainability of their enterprises and improved contribution to the economy. This study sought to identify the factors influencing the motivation of women entrepreneurs in Kenya by investigating the psychological and social motives that lead women to begin and run enterprises. Specifically, this study investigated whether women were motivated into entrepreneurship as a result of the acquisition of work experience and work skills. The population of interest in this study included women with businesses and were clientele of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Nairobi. The study focused on three major MFIs, that is, KWFT, SMEP and SISDO, purposively sampled based on their possession of attributes of interest to the study. The population sample was selected by means of the stratified random sampling method using the client membership lists derived from each of the MFIs’ group clientele and primary data collected suing questionnaires. Descriptive and statistical analysis techniques were used derived from the SPPS software. The analysis and findings showed that the levels of work experience and skills held by the women can be said to influence the decision to start a business but only to a moderate extent. With the Kenya government’s 100 percent transition policy to give children access to 12 years of learning, there is need for an identification and inclusion of relevant entrepreneurial lessons and vocational skills in the Kenyan education curriculum to help strengthen the capacity of the youth, some of whom were women, to start, grow and sustain their enterprises.