ABSTRACT

Women entrepreneurs are increasing rapidly though faced with a number of problems. They have been identified as a force for innovation and job creation. One of the reasons (IS to why we should encourage women entrepreneurs is because nowadays, they are given a chance to be educated and can contribute to national development equally (IS men do. This study investigated the factors influencing growth of MSEs owned by women entrepreneurs in Chuka municipality Meru south district. The research was mainly the use of quantitative methodology. Data was collected using questionnaires distributed to sixty nine respondents chosen through a stratified sample frame. Two research assistants were engaged to help with data collection in selected areas in the municipality. Data on the quantitative data was analyzed using MS Excel computer package. The study realized factors affecting growth of women owned enterprises, hindrances to their development and the strategies that could be formulated for their development. The problems concluded that factors affecting women owned MSEs in the area were similar to all MSEs in the country. The study recommended further research on why MEls were not known to these enterprises among other researches. Some of problems encountered during the duration of study included; uncooperative respondents, time constraints and limited funds available to carry out the study.