Social economic factors and access to finance: the case of women managed agri-based small and medium enterprises Nyamira county, Kenya

Women are becoming increasingly important in the socio-economic development of both developed and developing economies as they account for significant percentage of the operators of Small and Medium Enterprises. However, their involvement in in the economic development is hampered by culture associated factors. The purpose of this study was to explore the social economic factors that influence access to finance by women managedagri-based SMEs in Nyamira County, Kenya. A multistage sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of 60 agri-based SMEs from a population of 300 SMEs. A closed ended questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents which were analyzed for descriptive statistics. The findings confirmed that social economic factors in terms of gender discrimination, property ownership, bias in education and marital influences greatly influence access to finance by the women entrepreneurs managing agri-based SMEs. Indeed discrimination issues were ranked highly amongst the other factors. On the basis of the findings, the study concluded the development of women based SMEs is hampered by socio-economic factors. Hence, in the study recommends for change in attitude and behavior amongst the Kenyan community to provide for equal growth of men and women based SMEs. Similarly, the study recommends for appropriate policies that enhance financial uptake by the women based SMEs.