Influence of Professional Training Programme on the Growth of Women Owned Small and Medium Enterprises in Migori County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the Influence of Professional Training Programme on Growth of Women Owned Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Migori County Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives: To establish the extent to which access to funds influence growth of women owned SMEs in Migori County; To access the influence of cultural practices on growth of women owned SMEs Migori County; To trace the influence of use of technology on growth of women owned SMEs Migori County; and to identify the extent to which the expertise influence growth of women owned SMEs Migori County. Secondary information was obtained from different scholars to provide related literature of the study which was presented as per the study objectives. Primary data for the study was collected through the use of questionnaires through face to face interviews. This study targeted SMEs’ owners and their employees who carry their business within Migori County. Quantitative and descriptive survey research design was used in this study because it enabled the researcher to obtain information that described the existing phenomena through use of questionnaires as data collection tools. The questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument in the study. The validity test was pilot-tested among 10 SMEs holders outside the area of study. The researcher used consistent and systematic questions in the questionnaires to verify the reliability of the tool. Data analysis techniques used were descriptive statistics and content analysis. A likert-scale was also widely used in data collection process. Simple random sampling was adopted to select sample size of 98 SME employees out of the entire population of 980 women who owned SMEs. Out of 98 questionnaires that were issued 80 were returned giving an instrument return rate of 81%. Data was analysed using SPSS version 22 and testing of the hypotheses was done using Chi-square model. The researcher established from the findings that indeed professional training programme influences growth of women owned SMEs. The researcher further recommends a related study to be conducted in order to build the body of knowledge.