A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the master degree of science in commerce, in the school of business & public management at KCA University
To start and maintain firms and / or small business enterprises women entrepreneurs need access to micro credit financing, various studies have shown that smaller businesses have greater difficulty in securing bank credit. Recent studies show that women access to credit in Kenya has improved, it remains that actual lending is not commensurate with the growth of women owned businesses. In Kenya 48% of business owners are women yet they only 7% of formal credit and own just 1% of land, used as formal collateral. Consequently, this study determined access to microcredit financing by rural women entrepreneurs in Bungoma County. It had three specific objectives; Firstly, to determine the effect of inadequate entrepreneurial skills on women access to credit. Second, to determine the influence of microfinance lending conditions on women access to credit. Third, to analyze the impact of supportive regulatory framework on women access to credit. Descriptive research design was employed in this study. Primary data was used as a method for collecting data, the target population was women entrepreneurs and employees of Micro finance institutions (MFIs). Stratified random sampling was used to select 61 women entrepreneurs and a census was done for the managers of MFIs. The study employed descriptive statistics and linear regression model as analytical tools. Findings of this study indicate that entrepreneurial skill and the supportive regulatory framework have a direct and significant relationship with access to credit. Lending conditions had a negative and insignificant relationship with access to credit. Recommendation from this study suggest that there should be government intervention, financial sector and institutional interventions. A comprehensive capacity building strategy and service for microfinance is needed to meet the needs of the many self employed women entrepreneurs.