Abstract: Female entrepreneurs face challenges of higher magnitude as compared to their male counterparts. These challenges are unique and more complex for women living in developing countries and the most significant challenges has been access to credit and finance to start or grow their business ventures. The aim of this study was to examine the factors affecting access to women enterprise fund by women in enterprise development: a case of Kibera Sub-County, Nairobi County, Kenya. The study is guided by four theories: Cochran’s Theory of Entrepreneurship, Frank Young Theory of Entrepreneurship, Women in Development Approach, and Gender and Development Approach. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design. The target population was 473 women registered with the Ministry of Social Services in Kibera Sub-County Wards from which a sample of 127 respondents was selected using stratified random sampling. Descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation, and regression analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings showed that information, cultural, and marital status, income, and education explained 64.1 % of access to loans from WEF. The study concludes that moderate access to financial information influenced women access to loans from the WEF, that cultural roles and obligations for women affected their participation and time committed to their business which negatively affected their access to loans from the WEF, and that marital status of the respondents, their education level, and income level have an effect on loans access to the WEF. The study recommends that there is need for the WEF and other stakeholders to enhance access to information for women entrepreneurs on financial matters to increase their knowledge and awareness on options, procedures, and skills for seeking for credit services from financial institutions; that WEF and other stakeholders should tailor financial facilities for women entrepreneurs to fit into their schedule and their familial obligations; that WEF should make arrangements with clients based on their socio-demographic factors; and that loan applicants should be continuously provided with education and awareness on ways to seek and access loan facilities not only from the WEF but other institutions.
Keywords: Women Access To Credit, Women Enterprise Fund, Kibera Sub County.
Title: FACTORS AFFECTING WOMEN ACCESS TO CREDIT: A CASE OF WOMEN ENTERPRISE FUND OF KIBERA SUB COUNTY
Author: Esther Mukiri Thuranira, Dr. Florence N. Ondieki-Mwaura
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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