Tactical Skills and Transformation of Emergent Youth Business Ventures: An Implication for Repayment of Constituency Youth Enterprise Scheme Loans(C-Yes) in Kitui County, Kenya By Mulwa, Kyalo, Matula, Ndaita

 The contribution of emergent entrepreneurs to the national economy cannot be underestimated.  They form the basis of what eventually would become big businesses.  Individuals have given self confession of how they started businesses from a very humble beginning with very small capital(100/=).

 Such businesses grew to high capital of several thousands (10,000) and even to employ a number of employees (10).  It is only recently that the area of emergent entrepreneurs has attracted the attention of researchers and the government.

 Studies have shown that:  The needs of emergent entrepreneurs aged 26 years and above are largely different from those of lower categories of youth proprietors.  The major challenge facing these young adults is to transform their enterprises into commercially viable and competitive small businesses(Chigunta,2001).

 Operating in low income markets,  Running enterprises that may not be growing,  Low transition rate to the formal sector.

 The Kenya Government established the Youth Enterprise Development Fund in the year 2006 as an intervention to address youth unemployment through provision of loans to start, revive or expand the existing youth owned businesses.

 The Youth Enterprise Development Fund together with other government enterprise allowance schemes aim at combating high levels of youth unemployment by facilitating transition from unemployment and thus contributing to the creation of an enterprise culture (Amenya, 2011)  Hence a road map towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

 The fund was created as a revolving instrument and, therefore, depends on repayment in order to be able to continue lending Six years after its establishment. Most youth groups have failed to repay the loans in full and unemployment has escalated from 62% to 65% (Margret, 2010).

 Literature has revealed that loan repayment is very low in Kitui County thus posing a serious threat to the survival and success of these business ventures.  This article is based on empirical research on the tactical skills that influence the transformation of emergent youth owned businesses in Kitui County  Therefore, loan default remains a challenge. This calls for quick intervention in terms of research on to root cause of this anomaly that poses a threat to youth empowerment in Kitui

 1. To establish the extent to which leadership of the group influences the transformation of youth business ventures and its implication on the repayment of C- YES loans among youth groups.  2. To establish the influence of group members capacity to plan on the transformation of youth business ventures and its implication on the repayment of C- YES loans among youth groups.  3. To establish the influence training on business skills on the transformation of youth business ventures and its implication on the repayment of C- YES loans among youth groups.

 1. H 1 : Leadership of the group significantly influences the transformation of youth business ventures and its implication on the repayment of C- YES funded loans among youth groups.  2. H 1 : Group members capacity to plan has significant the transformation of youth business ventures and its implication on the repayment of C- YES funded loans among youth groups.  3. H 1 : Training on business skills significantly influences the transformation of youth business ventures and its implication on the repayment of C- YES funded loans among youth groups.

 The study adopted descriptive cross- sectional sample survey design.  systematic sampling procedure was used to select 30 groups from the target population of 99 youth groups who benefited from the C-yes loans in the previous three years in the constituency.

 Data collection was done by use of a questionnaire.  Split-half approach was used to test the reliability of the questionnaire and a correlation coefficient of 0.7 obtained and accepted as adequate for the study.

 Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).  Hypotheses were tested using Pearson's correlation coefficient.

 The study involved 50 respondents in which 72% were male while 28% were female.  There seem to be no gender balance in the respondent’s distribution.  The respondents belonged to groups of sizes ranging from 10 to 20 members.  Among the groups, 70% had operated for 4-8 years while 30% had operated for 1-3 years

This objective was measured through four key indicators including:  Business communication skills  Documentation of records  Marketing skills  Business ethics

 The respondents indicated in a five point likert scale the extent to which these indicators enhanced or undermined the transformation of their business ventures and hence their ability to repay the c-yes loans

SA%A %UD %D %SD %Total lack of training on business communication skills limits the transformation of my business making it difficult for me to repay the C-YES loans I have limited skills in keeping records of my business documents which undermines the expansion of my business hence inability to repay the C-YES loans I need improved Marketing skills to expand my business for easy repayment of C-YES loans Application of business ethics has been a challenge to me in effort to sustain my business and be able to repay C-YES loans

 This objective was measured by three key indicators including;  team building,  conflict resolution approaches  participatory decision making.  The respondents were required to fill a 5-point likert scale indicating the extent to which they agreed with the given statements. The responses are presented in Table 2

FactorSA%A%D %SD %U % Total/ % Participatory decision making in the group Conflict resolution approaches Team building

 The respondents revealed that their ability to repay C-YES loans depended on the transformation of the business ventures among the C-yes funded youth groups.  All the tactical skills for business transformation related to leadership were seen to be important in the transformation of the business.

 Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient was used to determine the strength of relationship between leadership of the group and transformation of the business ventures among the C-yes funded youth groups. This was done by testing the Null hypothesis as presented in Table 3

Group leadership Transformation of YES loans Group leadershipPearson Correlation10.80(*) Sig. (2-tailed) N50 Transformation of YES loans Pearson Correlation 0.80( *) 1 Sig. (2-tailed) N50

 Table 3 shows that the correlation between group leadership and transformation of the business ventures among the C-yes funded youth groups is 0.80 (*).  This shows that there is a significant relationship at 99% confidence level, between group leadership and Transformation of emergent business ventures and its implication on the repayment of YES loans among the C-yes funded youth groups in Kitui central constituency.  We therefore reject the hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between group leadership and repayment of YES loans among the C-yes funded youth groups in Kitui central constituency.

 This objective sought to assess the influence of capacity to plan on Transformation of emergent business ventures and its implication on the  Respondents were required to rate the factors resulting to low constituency youth enterprise scheme loan repayment by filling a 5-likert scale concerning enterprise growth and loan repayment

FactorSAADSDU Total/ % a) Conceptualization of business plan b) Development of business plan c) Operationalization of business plan

 Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient to determine analyze H 0 : There is no significant relationship between capacity to plan and transformation of business ventures and its implication on repayment of C-YES loans among the c-yes funded youth groups in Kitui central constituency.

Capacity to plan a business Transformation of business ventures Capacity to plan a business Pearson Correlation (*) Sig. (2-tailed)0.074 N50 Transformation of business ventures Pearson Correlation 0.78(*)1 Sig. (2-tailed)0.074 N50

 Correlation between capacity to plan and transformation of business ventures repayment of C-YES loans among the c-yes funded youth groups in Kitui central constituency is  This shows that there is a very strong relationship between capacity to plan and transformation of business ventures and its implication on repayment of C-YES loans among the c-yes funded youth groups in Kitui central constituency.  We therefore reject the hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between capacity to plan and transformation of business ventures repayment of C-YES loans among the c-yes funded youth groups in Kitui central constituency.

 Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient to determine the relationship between enterprise growth and repayment of C-YES loans among the C-yes funded youth groups in Kitui central constituency. This was done by testing the hypothesis;  H 0 : There is no significant relationship between enterprise growth and repayment of YES loans among the C-yes funded youth groups in Kitui central constituency

Training on Business skills Repayment of YEDF loans Training on Business skills Pearson Correlation1 0.72( *) Sig. (2-tailed)0.064 N50 Repayment of YES loans Pearson Correlation 0.72( *) 1 Sig. (2-tailed)0.064 N50

 Table 6 shows that the correlation between enterprise growth and repayment of YES loans among the C-yes funded youth groups in Kitui central constituency is 0.72 ( *).  This shows that there is a significant relationship between enterprise growth and repayment of YES loans among the C-yes funded youth groups in Kitui central constituency.  We therefore reject the hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between enterprise growth and repayment of YES loans among the C-yes funded youth groups in Kitui central constituency and conclude that the repayment of YES loans among the C-yes funded youth groups defends on the growth of the enterprise.

 County governments should equip the youth with skills on leadership, capacity building and business management in order to sustain their businesses and improve on the repayment of C-YES loans and remain in employment.

 The government should set aside money for training the youth groups on investment skills, budgeting, and recording as well as pro-longing the loan repayment period to enable the youth nurture their business ventures to grow to the level of repaying the loans without collapsing the businesses.  This will enable the youth to remain in self employment which is the basic objective of Youth Enterprise Development Fund.

 Thank you!