Influence of Youth Perception on Entrepreneurship in Kenya: A Case of Uasin Gishu County

Kenya has a population of approximately 40 million with those aged 35 years and below making up over 75% of the population. In 2003 and 2005, when the national unemployment level stood at 40%, the youth accounted for about 78% and 67% of the national unemployment in the two years respectively. Most recent college and university graduates fall in this category and it is becoming increasingly necessary to get more and more of them to engage in self-employment. This requires a concerted effort to change college students’ perceptions towards self-employment. The current qualitative study focuses on the role that colleges can play in enhancing entrepreneurial intentions among the youth. The college environments and exposure to entrepreneurship experiences are found to be two malleable antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions working through self-efficacy and perceptions of desirability. It is on this background that this aimed at accessing the influence of the youth perception on entrepreneurship in Uasin Gishu County in Kenya. The finding of the research will add to the knowledge and understanding of the motivation for Kenyan youth to be entrepreneurs in Kenya. This study used descriptive correlational survey design as it sought to describe and establish the relationships among the study variables. This being a census study, all the youth groups in Uasin Gishu County which were registered and licensed by the department youth and social services as at February 2014, and still in operation at the time of data collection were studied. Both primary and secondary data was used in this study. Primary data was collected through the use of key informant method and a self- administered questionnaire. Hence, all the chairmen and secretaries of every youth group was selected to take part in the study as they are perceived to be knowledgeable on the issues under study and for which they are either responsible for their execution or they personally execute them. The regression results shows that entrepreneurship largely depends on the youth perception with 71.1 percent of the County’s entrepreneurship being explained by youth perception (R squared = 0.711). The study results show that youth perception (culture, unemployment, leadership and altitude) were found to significantly and positively affect entrepreneurship. Key words: Youth perception, Entrepreneurship, Uasin Gishu County, Keny

Information Technology and Service Delivery of County Governments in Western Kenya Region

The inappropriateness in use of public monies has been cited as a major distractor towards achievement of development goals enshrined in our constitution. It has been largely attributed to the procurement practices adopted. The main objective of this study was to determine effects of information technology on service delivery of County governments in western Kenya region. The target population for this study entailed 228 officers who were categorized into chief officers, Directors, Finance officers and procurement officers. This study employed stratified random sampling towards picking a sample of 174 respondents. Information technology from the findings of this study had a significant effect on the delivery of services among counties in western Kenya region. Particularly, as Information technology changes by one unit, service delivery changes by 0.309 units units (β2=0.309, P<0.05). The F value obtained df (1,161) =84.947, P<0.05, that gave support to the goodness of fit of the model in adducing variance in the dependent variable. It meant too that Information Technology is a useful predictor of service delivery. This study therefore recommended that County Governments should view and treat information technology as a critical component and resource since its application in procurement activities improves delivery of services

Analyzing Effect of Internal Financing on Financial Performance of Savings and Credit: Co-Operative Societies in Kakamega County, Kenya

Savings and credit Cooperatives are non - profit making organizations but must make reasonable surplus to satisfy payments of dividends, interests and bonuses to members. The insufficient contribution from members in form of savings and deposits which is the major source of funds for cooperatives has resulted in severe liquidity problems for Saccos in Kenya. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between alternative financing and financial performance of Savings and credit Cooperatives in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to: analyse the effect of internal financing on financial performance of Saccos in Kenya: This study was undertaken in Kakamega County, Kenya. This study adopted descriptive correlational research design as it seeks to describe and establish the relationship between the study variables of alternative financing and financial performance. This being a census study, all Saccos in Kakamega County registered under the Ministry of Cooperative Development and Marketing as at 31st December 2015 and are categorized as active were studied. Primary and secondary data were used in this study. Primary data was collected mainly through questionnaires which the researcher administered in person to key informants. The measures of independent variable (alternative financing) had Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.7541 while those of the dependent variable (financial performance) had Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.8701. The study measures were found to be highly reliable in that they all had alpha coefficient greater than the minimum accepted Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.70. The study found out that internal financing significantly and positively affected financial performance with 65.7 percent of the financial performance (R squared = 0.657) being explained by internal financing. The study recommends that there is need for Saccos in Kenya to rely more on internal financing as a source of their financing because it has been found by this study that internal financing has the greatest effect on financial performance of Saccos