Socioeconomic Factors and Sustainability of Youth Economic Empowerment Projects, a Case of Youth Small and Medium Entreprises in Meru Town, Kenya

Abstract

Youth unemployment rose globally. In 2011, the global youth unemployment rate stood at 14.4%, escalating to 17.9% by 2021, a decade later. While Kenya's youth unemployment rate was initially lower than the global average, it surged from 7.2% in 2011 to 13.8% in 2021. The Kenyan government proposed various measures to address this issue, including the establishment of youth enterprises. Unfortunately, approximately 49.3% closed within a year. This research study aimed to establish the association between socioeconomic factors and the sustainability of economic empowerment projects in Meru town, Kenya. The research utilized the pragmatism research paradigm and a mixed-methods research design, with a sample of 398 randomly selected respondents. Data were collected through interviews and semi-structured questionnaires, and thematic analysis for qualitative data and descriptive and inferential statistics for quantitative data were employed for analysis. The resulting findings of the research indicated that entrepreneurial education had a significant moderate positive association with sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects (r = 0.523, p = 0.000), the variability in sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects attributable to entrepreneurial education was 27.4%, while a unit change in entrepreneurial education resulted in a significant positive change of 0.571 in sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects. Access to funds had a strong positive correlation with sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects (r = 0.637, p = 0.000), the percentage change in sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects attributable to access to funds was 40.6%, and the unit contribution of access to funds on sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects was 0.686. Religion on the other hand had no significant contribution on the sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects, it had r = 0.272, with a p-value = 0.079 > 0.05, hence implying no significant correlation between religion and sustainability. Statutory requirements had a strong significant negative association with sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects (r = -0.691, p = 0.000), it resulted in a 47.7% variability in sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects, while a unit change in statutory requirement led to a significant change of -0.695 in sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects. In conclusion, it was established that entrepreneurial education and access to funds have a significant positive influence on sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects, statutory requirement has a very strong negative influence on sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects, while religion had no influence on sustainability of youth economic empowerment projects. This research makes the following recommendations, that the government and non-governmental organisations that support youth economic empowerment should implement initiatives that provide accessible and comprehensive entrepreneurial training to equip young entrepreneurs with the necessary skills and knowledge; financial institutions and government agencies should collaborate to develop youth-friendly funding programs and initiatives that reduce barriers to capital; and lastly, advocate for policies that reduce bureaucratic hurdles without compromising the necessary legal and ethical standards to create a more favourable environment for youth economic empowerment projects.