Small Business Enterprises in Kenya by Ruth Thuku

 

Small business enterprises are businesses owned by one person, with one to ten employees who are controlled by the owner. These businesses have less output compared with medium sized business due to small number of employees and inadequate collateral to borrow more funds for expansion.

• • Kenya is among the best countries that have promoted and invested largely in small business enterprises in the world.
    Many Kenyans have invested in small business due to many factors that have been evidenced by issues arising in the day to day behaviors of people as discussed below.
    Due to increase in spread of HIV/AIDs pandemic many Kenyans are either infected or affected thus raising the zeal to invest and earn extra money to support family members that are infected or to pay for the antiretroviral drugs that have become very expensive to afford for many people.
    Nowadays the education system in Kenya is trying to change the mind set in many Kenyans by advocating for investment by students in small businesses to reduce dependency on white color jobs which have become adverse because of rise in the number of educated persons in Kenya. In the recent past Kenya has started free education program that has resulted to, many people accessing education. Also Kenya has introduced entrepreneurship and related course e.g. marketing in many institutions like KASNEB and in universities they are included as units example is Kimathi University.
    The cost of living in Kenya is rapidly increasing making the rational Kenyans to prepare for their future by starting their own small businesses to earn extra income to support their families, improve their living standard and safeguard against total starvation in the future.
    The government of Kenya has been at the fore front in promoting venturing in small business. Apart from providing free primary education and subsidized secondary education, it has set aside a certain amount of funds from its budget as youth fund, this fund allowed youths to form groups and borrow funds from the ministry of youth with less collateral required and easy to get i.e. less bureaucracy.
    There is also support from the world by non-government organizations and other institutions. Recently the World Bank donated to the youth kitty through the “Kazi kwa vijana” initiative.
    However, with all this support there has been set backs that has made Kenya lag behind and still listed as a third world country, this include;
    The World Bank has revealed misappropriation of the funds that it had donated to help the youth, claim that made the officials responsible to refund the unused funds to the World Bank.
    High cost of living that has been revealed by recent loss of value by Kenya shilling making imports expensive and export cheap hence more difference in balance of payments and increase in price of consumer goods. All this has increased consumption reducing the incentive to invest, it has made in closure of many businesses. It has made many youths to lose hope of ever becoming successful in life thus indulging in alcohol of which are mostly illegal brews example is “yokozuna” in maina village that killed about five young people instantly in Nyahururu and others in kiambu and Nairobi that led to a few losing their lives and others losing eyesight and drug abuse.
    This and others have set back the effort to make Kenya join first world countries. However, with all this problems Kenyans have not lost their hope in the achievement of vision 2030 by coming up with business incubators that nurture young talents to help improve our technology.