Factors affecting youth entrepreneurship development in Kibera district, Kenya

Wise Sambo

doi:10.21511/ppm.14(3-1).2016.02

Abstract

Entrepreneurship and business creation are a growing alternative for young people in different economies whose age group often faces a labor market with double digit unemployment rates. Due to low economic growth, traditional career paths and opportunities are disappearing rapidly. In response to these challenges, the government introduced the National Youth Policy (NYP), amongst others, to deal with the challenges facing youth in Kenya. It was through the NYP that the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) was transformed to a state corporation in 2007 as a strategic move toward arresting unemployment among youth in Kenya. This study sought to report on the factors affecting youth entrepreneurship development in Kibera, a district of Kenya. Kibera is a low income, informal settlement in southwest Nairobi (Kenya) with an estimated population of one million housed on less than 2% of the total municipal residential land (or 3,000 people per hectare). A sample of three hundred entrepreneurs (aged 18-35) within the Kibera district, Kenya was drawn to participate in this study. Structured survey questionnaires were used to collect data from young business owners in Kibera. Findings revealed that government policy (NYP) and access to credit have a moderate to strong positive relationship in the development of youth entrepreneurship. Though the positive relationship shows that the Kenyan government is supporting youth entrepreneurship in Kibera, there have been differing views as to whether the programs to support youth are yielding positive results or not. Keywords: youth entrepreneurship, Kenya national youth policy, unemployment, Kibera. JEL Classification: L26, E24

Highlights

Kenya’s vision of becoming a middle income economy by the year 2030 largely depends on the emancipation and active participation of youth in the economic development of the country
There was an equal distribution of gender in business enterprises that were sampled. This shows that youths in Kibera, both male and female, have equal opportunities when it comes to entrepreneurship activities
Most of the youths running business enterprises in Kibera were towards the upper end of youth age which is between 26-29 years of age and constituted 60%

Summary

Introduction

Kenya’s vision of becoming a middle income economy (industrialized) by the year 2030 largely depends on the emancipation and active participation of youth in the economic development of the country. Like any other developing nation, entrepreneurship and self-employment in Kenya can be a source of new jobs and economic dynamism and can improve youth livelihoods and economic independence of inhabitants. For young people in the informal economy, microentrepreneurism is a bottom-up method for generating income, self-reliance and a new innovative path to earning a living and caring for oneself (Maxwell, 2002). Entrepreneurship development in Kenya is primarily aimed at youth in technical training institutions and is being expanded to include the universities. This program involves introducing youth to SME startup programs with the aim of getting them to think about self-

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Conclusion