The Contribution of Entrepreneurship Education Course in Enhancing Management Skills of Informal Entrepreneurs

The study was conducted to investigate the contribution of entrepreneurship education in technical training colleges in enhancing management skills of informal sector entrepreneurs in Kenya. A case study of informal sector operators in Nairobi was conducted. Qualitative data was collected using in-depth interviews and observations. The data was analyzed using the grounded theory. Findings of the study showed that the informal sector operators used skills they gained in entrepreneurship education in technical training colleges to gain access to the informal sector industry and to manage their business. Those with higher training in entrepreneurship education tended to excel in their operations. A closer look showed that there was still a need for further training of management skills to better their activities. The recommendations were that secondary schools in Kenya should include entrepreneurship in secondary education system curriculum so as to help the school leavers who fail to join tertiary education and end up in the informal sector

Psychosocial Challenges Facing Female Entrepreneurs in Rural Informal Sector and Their Coping Mechanisms: A Case Study of Gucha District, Kenya

The study was conducted to determine some of the psychosocial challenges facing the growing number of female entrepreneurs in informal sector entrepreneurs in Kenya and strategies they use to minimize these challenges. A case study of Gucha District in Kenya was conduced. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were employed to collect data. A sample of 150 respondents was selected. Two data collection techniques were used: structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews. The information gathered was analyzed using statistical package of social sciences. Findings of the study showed that some of psychosocial challenges facing female informal sector entrepreneurs rural areas in Gucha district include financial stress, depression, social isolation and poor relationships with their friends, relatives, in and workmates. The study also established that demographic profile influences female entrepreneurs’ ability to cope with the challenges. The respondents recommended that the government and communities should create secure conditions for them to cope. Keywords: Psychosocial challenges; female entrepreneurs; rural informal sector; Kenya

Factors Determining Adoption of New Agricultural Technology by Smallholder Farmers in Developing Countries

Agricultural technologies are seen as an important route out of poverty in most of the developing countries. However the rate of adoption of these technologies has remained low in most of these countries. This study aim at shedding some light on the potential factors that influence agricultural technology adoption in developing countries. It does so by reviewing previous studies done on technology adoption. From the study technological, economic, institutional factors and human specific factors are found to be the determinants of agricultural technology adoption. The study recommend the future studies on adoption to widen the range of variables used by including perception of farmers towards new technology. Keywords: Technology, Adoption, smallholde

Ohio CCRCs in the Economic Downturn

This report examines how the economic downturn affected consumer opinions about choosing a CCRC and how the CCRCs in Ohio made adjustments in response to declining numbers of prospective residents. One hundred-sixty five Ohio CCRCs are included in the survey results

Science, Technology and the Nightly News: A Service Learning-Based Approach in Teaching Science Communication to Journalism Students

Journalists have often been accused of over-simplifying complex scientific stories leading to less audience engagement and information at a time when U.S news media continue to experience declining audiences. U.S. media has also experienced a gradual decline in coverage of science stories for a variety of reasons. Through a partnership with the National Science Foundation, journalism students at a university in the Midwest sought to correct this problem using a service-learning approach that produced science-based video content distributed through NSF channels. Results show improved student comprehension of scientific content may increase the quality of science stories available on television news.  

The Study of the Effects of Mau Catchment Degradation on the Flow of the Mara River, Kenya

There is growing concern however, regarding land degradation in the Mara River Basin in Kenya, particularly deforestation in the headwaters; that is affecting the natural resource base and the river flows. Scientific studies are required to advise on policy issues, and to plan appropriate mitigation measures in the basin. This study utilized remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) tools, and hydrological and ground-truth studies to determine the magnitude of the land-use/cover changes in the Mara River Basin, and the effects of these changes on the river flows over the last 30 years. The results of the studies indicate that land-use/cover changes have occurred in the basin. In 1973, for example, rangelands (savannah, grasslands and shrublands) covered 10,989 km2 (79%) of the total basin area. The rangelands have now been reduced to 7,245 km2 (52%) by 2000. The forest areas have been reduced by 32% over the same period. These changes have been attributed to the encroachment of agriculture, which has more than doubled (203%) its land area over the same period. To investigate the effects of land cover change on river flow, stream flow was generated from derived land cover thematic maps of 1973 and 2000 using the same rainfall and evaporation data of 1983 to 1992 period. The  other  model  input  datasets  for  topography  and  soils  were  held  constant during the two runs. The differences in the generated hydrographs could only be associated to the changes in land cover, which was the only variable. The percentage difference between the mean annual stream flows of the two hydrographs was negligible at 0.01%. This study therefore  concludes  that  land  cover  changes  in  the  basin  have changed the day to day flow characteristics of the  Mara river but the annual flow volumes remain unaffected. There is need for urgent action to stem the land degradation of the Mara River Basin, including planning and implementing appropriate mitigation measures. Keywords: SWAT model, Mara River Basin, Hydrological Modelling, River Discharge

An Exploratory study of franchising as a small and medium enterprises development strategy in Kenya

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Masters of Business AdministrationThe study provides an exploratory insight into the factors that globally influence the development of franchising but more specifically, the study explores the determinants of successful franchising development among Small and Medium Enterprises both at the global level and in Kenya. The determinants were organized along four (4) key themes: External environmental specific determinants such as political, legal and economic factors and internal environmental specific factors such as motivation, strategic choice and firm level capabilities. Due to the nascent nature of franchising in Kenya among local enterprises, the study adopted a purposive sampling which entailed selecting indigenous SME business owners that had adopted franchising as business expansion strategy as well as key informants that were conversant with franchising. Primary data was collected by means of questionnaires which were both open and close ended with secondary data being gathered by way of reviewing documents and other report on the businesses that were being studied. The data collected was analysed using case study descriptions as an analytic strategy with the 2 cases being cross-synthesized with the aim of trying to match any existing patters between the 2 businesses. The findings of the study suggest that the Kenyan political environment which is closely related to the legal environment does determine the development of franchising and so does the state of the economy in the country. The motivation of the entrepreneur to choose franchising to grow their business as well as the expansion strategy that they use to achieve the same both have a bearing on the success of their enterprise. The study also shows that there are certain capabilities that need to be developed within the firm in order to succeed in franchising. The study recommends that the government improves the legal environment as regards intellectual property protection and commercial disputes resolution mechanisms in order to encourage franchising. At the firm level, business owners are advised to test their business models until they are confident enough of successfully replicating the same through franchising in order to increase the chances of survival

An Exploratory study of creating shared value in Kenya: a case study of M-Tiba

A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Masters of Business Administration at Strathmore University Business SchoolThe research was carried out to explore the practice of creating shared value (CSV) as a business strategy in the Kenyan context. In particular, it sought to understand how a purposefully selected company in Kenya practiced CSV and the effects on their business. Using a case study approach, the research focused on M-Tiba, a mobile service from Safaricom Limited, PharmAccess and CarePay that allows anyone to send, save and spend funds specifically for medical treatment. MTiba was recently awarded in the 2017 Loeries Awards in Durban, South Africa where it received a gold medal in the Shared Value category. Data was collected through in-depth interviews, questionnaires and document reviews. The researcher found that M-Tiba provided both social and economic value, facilitated by a transformative cross-sector partnership between a for-profit and a not-for-profit organization. The researcher concluded that for-profit and not-for-profit organizations can utilize complimentary competencies and resources to address some of the persistent social issues. Recommendations comprised of; including CSV as a core mission for organizations, setting up forums for for-profit and not-for-profit organizations to understand the social problems and possible solutions, assessing economic value using various metrics and investing strategically with a long-term view and transformational cross-sector partnerships. The main limitation of the study was the response rate ofM-Tiba subscribers engaged via SMS

Epidemiology of infections and co-infections: Impact on survival and growth of zebu cattle under one year

In any host population, individuals may be infected with multiple pathogens concurrently or in sequence. The direction and strength of pathogen-pathogen interactions are often unknown and dependent on the mechanism of interaction. This thesis is concerned with the epidemiology of infections and coinfections in zebu cattle during their first year of life, and the consequences they have for hosts’ survival probabilities and growth rates. Specifically, the study aims to: a) identify the many different pathogen infections occurring in zebu cattle under one year old, b) identify the main causes of mortality and reduced growth rates, c) test for evidence of effects of pathogen-pathogen interactions on mortality and growth, and d) determine the risk factors for infections with pathogens associated with increased mortality and reduced growth rates in zebu calves. To achieve these aims data collected from an epidemiological follow-up study of a cohort of 548 indigenous zebu cattle, recruited at birth and followed for the entire first year of life was used. Growth rates were enormously variable (52 to 704% of birth-weight) and 88 (16%) of the calves died during the first year, most from infectious disease. In total, 25,104 calf weeks of observation and data from 5,337 individual calf visits were analysed. Over 50 different pathogens were identified in the cohort. The thesis begins by providing an overview of zebu cattle and the importance of cattle diseases relevant to Sub-Saharan Africa, emphasising the importance of epidemiological studies taking into account co-infections, which are common in the natural populations, as opposed to a single-pathogen focus. A detailed description of the study design, data collection and descriptive analysis of non-infectious factors, including management and environmental factors, and a descriptive analysis of all pathogens screened for in the study are provided. Using Cox proportional models with frailty terms, the study then identifies infectious and non-infectious risk factors associated with mortality. Further, the role co-infections play in decreasing survival probabilities are investigated, revealing that the hazard for death from East Coast Fever (ECF) - the single most important disease associated with 40% of all deaths - increases 10 times in animals co-infected with Trypanosoma species, and 1.3 times for every 1000 eggs per gram faeces increase in strongyle egg count. Mixed-effect models are used to study growth rates and the impact of coinfections, revealing both synergistic interactions (lower host growth rates) of T. parva and A. marginale co-infections, and antagonistic interactions (relatively higher host growth rates) of T. parva and T. mutans co-infections compared to single infections with T. parva. Further, this work shows that helminth infections can have a strong negative effect on the growth rates but this is burden-dependent. These findings provide baseline epidemiological data on the diseases with greatest impact on health and performance of young zebu cattle, information that is valuable in the prioritisation and control of diseases. Additionally, they provide evidence of co-infections affecting host growth and survival, and have important implications on disease control strategies, suggesting benefits of aan integrated approach to control of worm, tick and tsetse-borne diseases

THE EU-AFRICA PARTNERSHIP: THE EU’s CHANGING POLICY TOWARDS AFRICAN IRREGULAR MIGRATION

The EU is changing its African irregular migration management approach from control measures and border protection to addressing the root causes. In 2015, during the EU-Africa Valetta Summit on irregular migration control, the EU took an unprecedented migration management approach - it established the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, whose fundamental objective is to address the root causes of African irregular migration. Recent migration studies suggest that the African partners influenced the EU policy change within the Africa-EU partnership framework. The study aimed to answer the question: how did the African partner countries participate in influencing the EU’s shift of migration policy from border control mechanisms to addressing the root causes of African irregular migration? The study was guided by rhetorical action and used rhetorical analysis as a research methodology. Using official/diplomatic and unofficial rhetoric before, during, and after the 2015 Valletta Summit, the study examined how African and European actors framed rhetoric on African irregular migration to Europe. The study found that the attempt to link African irregular migration to Europe and coloniality started as early as 2008. During the 2015 EU-Africa Valletta summit, African actors were pro-active in articulating the rhetoric of root causes, which links to neo-colonialism, contrary to the then-dominant rhetoric of border control maintained by the EU actors. As a result, having a strong normative identity, the EU found itself morally entrapped. It could neither reject the validity of the African partners' rhetoric of the need to address the root causes of irregular migration nor defend itself against the accusations of inconsistency in its external actions. In other words, the EU was left without an alternative other than embarking on the rhetoric of addressing the root causes of African irregular migration. This policy move can be explained as the EU’s effort to build the legitimacy of its external actions in irregular migration management to African partners