Influence of Loan Size on Growth of Women Entrepreneurship in Rubirizi District, Uganda

Abstract

Women have actively participated in the economic development of many nations. However, women-owned enterprises have continued to face tough competition in the market. Resultantly, most of their businesses collapse at the infancy stage leaving many women languishing in poverty. This is against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially on poverty (SDG 1), zero hunger (SDG 2), and gender equality (SDG 5). This study sought to evaluate the influence of loan sizes on the growth of women entrepreneurship in Rubirizi District in Uganda. The study specifically sought to examine the extent to which loan size affects the growth of women entrepreneurship in the Rubirizi District of Uganda. The study was anchored on a Resource Based Theory. The study adopted a quantitative approach while a descriptive research design was used to describe the respondents’ opinions numerically in statistical terms. The target population constituted 3720 participants from which a sample size of 361 was selected using the Sloven formula. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires framed on a Likert scale of 1-5. Respondents were selected randomly using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics analyzed the responses obtained from the research questions while inferential statistics showed the influence of the independent variables on the dependent variable. The null hypothesis was tested at a 0.05 significance level. The analyzed data was displayed by use of suitable frequency distribution tables. The results showed that loan size is statistically insignificant in the growth of women entrepreneurship (P=.334, P>0.05). The study concluded that there is no statistically significant relationship between loan sizes obtained from Village Saving Loan Associations and the growth of women's entrepreneurship. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Loan Size, Growth, Village Savings, Loan Associations