Effect of Entrepreneurial Orientation on the Growth of women Micro and Small Enterprises in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya

The MSEs are globally the focus of policy makers due to their ability to distribute incomes in both rural and urban areas for poverty reduction. Entrepreneurial orientation is one of the major  determinant of women MSE business start up, growth and graduation in to medium and large scale enterprises. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of Entrepreneurial Orientation on the growth of women owned Micro and Small Enterprises in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. Questionnaires, interview schedules and observation methods were used to collect data from 170 sampled women group MSE owner managers under Women Enterprise Fund subsidized entrepreneurial credit scheme in Trans-Nzoia County who were licensed by the county revenue department and have been in business between 2009 and 2015.  Growth was measured in terms of change in sales revenue, profit and number of employees before and after Women Enterprise Fund intervention measures. The data was summarised and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics of frequency distribution, mean, percentages, correlation and  linear regression.  The study found out that Entrepreneurial orientation had statistically significant relationship with growth of women MSEs at 0.05 level of significance. It was recommended that the Government in conjunction with County Governments should nurture an entrepreneurial culture through continuous technology upgrading courses in National polytechnics in addition to experiential learning through exchange visits and attendance of  national and international trade fairs. The government should provide modern business infrastructure to women Micro and MSEs in order to spur their meaningful and faster growth. To attain production and marketing economies of scale, clustering of women MSEs with subsequent subcontracting arrangements with medium and large enterprises was also recommended

Can market-based approaches to technology development and dissemination benefit women smallholder farmers? A qualitative assessment of gender dynamics in the ownership, purchase, and use of irrigation pumps in Kenya and Tanzania

Rural household economies dependent on rainfed agriculture are increasingly turning to irrigation technology solutions to reduce the effects of weather variability and guard against inconsistent and low crop output. Organizations are increasingly using market-based approaches to disseminate technologies to smallholder farmers, and, although women are among their targeted group, little is known of the extent to which these approaches are reaching and benefiting women. There is also little evidence on the implications of women’s use and control of irrigation technologies for outcomes, including crop choice and income management. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study undertaken in Tanzania and Kenya to examine women’s access to and ownership of KickStart pumps and the implications for their ability to make major decisions on crop choices and use of income from irrigated crops. Results from sales-monitoring data show that women purchase less than 10 percent of the pumps and men continue to make most of the major decisions on crop choices and income use. These findings vary by type of crop, with men making major decisions on high- income crops such as tomatoes and women having relatively more autonomy on crops such as leafy vegetables. The study concludes that market-based approaches on their own cannot guarantee access to and ownership of technologies, and businesses need to take specific measures toward the goal of reaching and benefiting women

Review of patients with chronic suppurative otitis media in the National Ear care centre, Kaduna Nigeria.

Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is the most common condition presenting to Otolaryngological clinics, often patients present late with consequent complications that require surgical intervention. This study aimed to review the mode of clinical presentation, modality and outcome of treatment of CSOM seen at NECC Kaduna. Methodology:This was a retrospective study carried out in the National Ear Care Centre, Kaduna for a period of 3 years; from January 2016 - December 2018. Results: Two hundred and thirty-four patients with CSOM were studied. There were 127 males and 107 females making M: F =1.2:1. The age range was from 8-60years with a mean age of 26.5±12.6years. The age group 11-20 (31.2%) had the highest number. Majority presented with hearing loss and ear discharge 228(97.4%) and 182(77.8%) respectively. Other symptoms were otalgia, tinnitus, vertigo and nasal symptoms. Eleven (4.7%) had complications at presentation. Ninety-two (39.3%) had surgery, 64 had only aural toileting and dressing with topical antibiotic with recorded success as majority achieved dry ear, while 38 patients were lost to follow up. Postoperative complications include; loss of taste sensation, facial nerve palsy, recurrent/persistent ear discharge, persistent dizziness, and infection of the donor site and no mortality was recorded. Conclusion: One-third of the patients who benefitted from surgery had a good outcome and for those with conservative treatment, the majority achieved dry ear. Early presentation is advised to avoid complications

Assessing Use of Information Communication Technologies among Agricultural Extension Workers in Kenya Using Modified UTAUT Model

Government agricultural extension officers in Kenya are mandated with providing agricultural information to farmers. ICTs have the ability to provide better linkage between agricultural experts and farmers for timely and appropriate technical advice to enhance agricultural productivity. Several models have been developed by various researchers to explain ICT adoption in various fields. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was developed by consolidating eight famous Models/Theories in the Information Systems discipline. This study aimed at investigating the factors that influence use of ICTs by government agricultural extension officers within Kiambu County of Kenya by utilizing the UTAUT model. To achieve this, four hypothesis were proposed to test the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The variables of the study were Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Facilitating Conditions and Social Influence. The research undertook a survey where a census of agricultural extension officers in Kiambu County was done. Questionnaires were utilized on the target population where 144 questionnaires were distributed and 104 were used in analysis. Correlation analysis was used to analyze the data and determine relationships between variables with the major determining factors being the correlation (R) and the p-value of significance. The results show that there were statistically significant, strong positive relationships between Improved Productivity, Facilitating Conditions and Management support and that of usage of ICTs. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that for success in implementation of ICT projects in the Extension Directorate, the extension workers need to be sensitized on ways ICTs could lead to higher productivity at their work places in addition to training on basic ICT technologies that they could easily utilize in their line of work. Further, it is recommended that the Ministry rolls out appropriate ICT infrastructure and ICT support staff in the Extension offices. This will go a long way in encouraging utilization of ICTs

The failed liberalisation of Algeria and the international context: a legacy of stable authoritarianism

The paper attempts to challenge the somewhat marginal role of international factors in the study of transitions to democracy. Theoretical and practical difficulties in proving causal mechanisms between international variables and domestic outcomes can be overcome by defining the international dimension in terms of Western dominance of world politics and by identifying Western actions towards democratising countries. The paper focuses on the case of Algeria, where international factors are key in explaining the initial process of democratisation and its following demise. In particular, the paper argues that direct Western policies, the pressures of the international system and external shocks influence the internal distribution of power and resources, which underpins the different strategies of all domestic actors. The paper concludes that analysis based purely on domestic factors cannot explain the process of democratisation and that international variables must be taken into more serious account and much more detailed

The Rho GDI Rdi1 regulates Rho GTPases by distinct mechanisms

© 2008 by The American Society for Cell Biology. Under the License and Publishing Agreement, authors grant to the general public, effective two months after publication of (i.e.,. the appearance of) the edited manuscript in an online issue of MBoC, the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the manuscript subject to the terms of the Creative Commons–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).The small guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-binding proteins of the Rho family are implicated in various cell functions, including establishment and maintenance of cell polarity. Activity of Rho guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) is not only regulated by guanine nucleotide exchange factors and GTPase-activating proteins but also by guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitors (GDIs). These proteins have the ability to extract Rho proteins from membranes and keep them in an inactive cytosolic complex. Here, we show that Rdi1, the sole Rho GDI of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, contributes to pseudohyphal growth and mitotic exit. Rdi1 interacts only with Cdc42, Rho1, and Rho4, and it regulates these Rho GTPases by distinct mechanisms. Binding between Rdi1 and Cdc42 as well as Rho1 is modulated by the Cdc42 effector and p21-activated kinase Cla4. After membrane extraction mediated by Rdi1, Rho4 is degraded by a novel mechanism, which includes the glycogen synthase kinase 3β homologue Ygk3, vacuolar proteases, and the proteasome. Together, these results indicate that Rdi1 uses distinct modes of regulation for different Rho GTPases.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaf

Russia’s Eurasian past, present and future: rival international societies and Moscow’s place in the post-cold war world

The failure of post-Soviet Russia to integrate into the West became evident with the 2014 Ukraine crisis, leading Moscow to accelerate its declared “pivot to the East”. However, the increased dependence on China carries its own risks, such as the danger of becoming Beijing’s junior partner. For an erstwhile superpower that continues to declare and prize its autonomy in international affairs, this is a particularly unappealing prospect. Thus, it remains to be seen whether a genuinely balanced partnership can exist between both countries. This article uses insights from Adam Watson’s pendulum theory to explore Russia’s post-2014 Eurasian predicament. We argue that the rapid rightward swing of the pendulum in the Euro-Atlantic order following the end of the Cold War has proven indigestible for Moscow. The article then moves to discuss the Sino-Russian relationship in the context of the emerging Eurasian space. It concludes that the growing disillusionment of Russian leaders with the West since the 2000s, along with the normative convergence between Moscow and Beijing, has led to a closer partnership between the two. Yet the partnership is also riddled with a number of insecurities on Moscow’s side that could undermine the long-term prospects for cooperation between Russia and China

Oil and gas:a blessing for the few. Hydrocarbons and inequality within regions in Russia

Building on earlier work on regional inequality in Russia the article seeks to demonstrate that the regional oil and gas abundance is associated with high within-region inequality. It provides empirical evidence that hydrocarbons represent one of the leading determinants of an increased gap between rich and poor in the producing regions. The discussion focuses on a possible cluster of geographic, economic and political factors underlying the phenomenon

1989 as a mimetic revolution: Russia and the challenge of post-communism

Various terms have been used to describe the momentous events of 1989, including Jürgen Habermas’s ‘rectifying revolution,’ and my own notion of 1989 as a type of ‘anti-revolution’: repudiating not only what had come before, but also denying the political logic of communist power, as well as the emancipatory potential of revolutionary socialism in its entirety. In the event, while the negative agenda of 1989 has been fulfilled, it failed in the end to transcend the political logic of the systems that collapsed at that time. This paper explores the unfulfilled potential of 1989. Finally, 1989 became more of a counter- rather than an anti-revolution, replicating in an inverted form the practices of the mature state socialist regimes. The paucity of institutional and intellectual innovation arising from 1989 is striking. The dominant motif was ‘returnism,’ the attempt to join an established enterprise rather than transforming it. Thus, 1989 can be seen as mimetic revolution, in the sense that it emulated systems that were not organically developed in the societies in which they were implanted. For Eastern Europe ‘returning’ to Europe appeared natural, but for Russia the civilizational challenge of post-communism was of an entirely different order. There could be no return, and instead of a linear transition outlined by the classic transitological literature, Russia’s post-communism demonstrated that the history of others could not be mechanically transplanted from one society to another