dc.description.abstract | The changing socio-economic environment in the ASAL has had an impact on gender roles.
Women in Isiolo county are increasingly taking up more roles that used to be reserved for men e.g
men’s role as household head and provider, as men migrate to take up paid work in urban areas.
Men working away from home do not adequately provide for their families. Which has led to these
women starting MSEs for the upkeep of their families. The enterprises are not performing
optimally because of social-cultural and religious issues that hinder women from participating in
certain types of businesses. Accelerated Value Chain Development (AVCD) Project in Kenya is
funded by USAID under Feed the Future initiative to impart business development skills to women
in the ASAL county of Isiolo. This study was guided by four objectives; to determine how sociocultural
factors influence the performance of women entrepreneurs in the accelerated value chain
development project, to assess the extent to which entrepreneurial skills influence the performance
of women entrepreneurs in the accelerated value chain development project, to establish how
business development services (BDS) offered by the accelerated value chain development project
influence the performance of women entrepreneurs and to determine how legal and regulatory
factors influence the performance of women entrepreneurs in the accelerated value chain
development project. The study was based on theory of performance and sociological theory. The
approach of this study was both quantitative and qualitative and the design was descriptive survey.
The target population was 995 women entrepreneurs who had been trained by the AVCD project.
The survey consisted of standard demographic questions, statements on business information and
statements on the four components on performance of women entrepreneurs in the accelerated
value chain development project. A pilot test was done, and the reliability test score was 0.84,
indicating very high reliability. The data was collected using a questionnaire and checked for
completeness. The data was then analyzed using SPSS version 23. The researcher used simple
descriptive statistics and presented data in frequency distribution tables and percentages. The study
concluded that business development services being offered by the AVCD project had the most
influence on performance of women entrepreneurs with an aggregate mean of 3.60. Both social
cultural factors and entrepreneurial skills did not play a significant role on the influence of
performance of women entrepreneurs with an aggregate mean of 3.30. Legal and regulatory
factors were the least to influence performance of women entrepreneurs with an aggregate mean
of 1.50. In conclusion, the AVCD project has made a big difference in the women enterprises and
it seems to be on the right track of meeting its objective of empowering women through imparting
business development skills. The study recommends that; the county government encourage
investments of financial institutions that are shariah compliant to encourage borrowing by the
enterprises. Secondly, the government should tailor the women and youth enterprise funds to
include a component of shariah compliance. Thirdly, the county government should introduce
mentorship programs for the women. Fourthly, women entrepreneurs should be encouraged to
purchase assets which can be used as collateral. Finally, the imparting of business development
skills should be done in partnership with other relevant institutions to ensure sustainability | en_US |