Abstract

The purpose of this study is to establish the characteristics of owners of Business on strategic access to credit facilities by Women owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The study adopted a descriptive research design guided by cross sectional survey. The target population was drawn from women owned enterprises specifically owners of businesses in Nairobi, Kenya. A sample of 370 was derived from the population. A pilot will be conducted to ascertain the validity and reliability of the instrument. Data collected from the respondents was captured in SPSS version 24 and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics (correlation analysis and multiple regressions) to establish hypothesized relationships between the variables. The results were presented in form of tables, graphs, charts, means, standard deviations, t and f statistics. The findings of the study revealed that characteristics of business owners, collateral, networking and interest rates statistically and significantly predicts the Strategic access to credit SMEs owned by women (i.e., the regression model is a good fit of the data) and that interest rates significantly influence the Strategic access to credit SMEs owned by women in Kenya.

Highlights

  • Collateral refers to something pledged as security for repayment of a loan, to be forfeited in the event of a default

  • Financial institutions insist on the provision of collateral by businesses owned by women as a primary lending condition

  • The findings concurs with those of a study conducted in Ghana by (17) to examine the challenges faced by Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in accessing credit with revealed that the inability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to own highly valued assets to provide as collateral to financial institutions make it extremely difficult to access credit

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Summary

Introduction

Collateral refers to something pledged as security for repayment of a loan, to be forfeited in the event of a default. The small and medium enterprises (SMEs) owned by women are acknowledged as the engines through which the growth objectives of the developing countries can be achieved. Despite their potential to create employment, create wealth and develop innovation in many developing countries, women owned SMEs encounter various problems and as a result many perform dismally and fail to grow (1). Such problems include inability to access credit from financial institutions. A study by (8) asserts that in Kenya is hindered by numerous factors such as low levels of education, high interest rates, low business incomes and many other socio-cultural aspects that put women in lower status in the society compared to men as far as operation of the businesses is concerned

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