Growth of Youth-Owned Micro and Small Enterprises in Kigali City, Rwanda: What is the Role of Government Entrepreneurial Interventions?

Abstract

Micro and Small Enterprises are major players in the wealth of nations, and therefore various entrepreneurial interventions were launched for boosting the economies and standards of living by creating employment opportunities and profits. However, these MSEs have experienced some problems which lessen their growth. The objective of the research was to investigate the effect of government interventions on the growth of youth-owned MSEs in Kigali City, Rwanda. The study was anchored on the resource-based view, Gibb’s support theory, adoption theory, and growth of a firm theory/ Explanatory and descriptive research designs were adopted. The sample was 154 respondents drawn from three districts of Kigali city with a population of 252 youth-owned MSEs. Data was collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis. The study concludes that entrepreneurial training, access to credit, technology-based online social media, and market access effectively influenced the growth of MSEs in Kigali City, Rwanda. The study recommended that government entrepreneurial interventions should be effectively factored into policy-making and program implementation for sufficient growth of MSEs. MSEs should adopt technology-based online social media to market their products to the global market beyond the Rwanda boundary. Moreover it’s an effective management tool for customer relations for online business.