“Factors affecting youth entrepreneurship development within Kibera, Kenya: the perspective of entrepreneurship education”

All over the world there has been an increased interest in entrepreneurship education and the society in general. Kenya was among the first countries in Africa to introduce aspects of entrepreneurship education in its education and training systems. Entrepreneurship and business creation are a growing alternative for young people in different economies whose age group often faces a labor market with double digit unemployment rates. This study seeks to investigate and report on the factors affecting youth entrepreneurship development with specific reference to entrepreneurship education in Kibera, a district of Kenya. Two objectives are identified, namely (i) to determine the government’s provision and access to the entrepreneurship education and training among the Kenyan youth, and (ii) to determine whether there is a relationship between the level of education, training and development of youth entrepreneurship. A sample of three hundred entrepreneurs (aged 18-35) within the Kibera district in Kenya is drawn to participate in this study. Structured survey questionnaires are used to collect primary data from business owners in the Kibera district. Findings revealed a strong positive correlation between the provision of entrepreneurship education and development of youth entrepreneurship and the level of education has a very weak positive correlation to youth entrepreneurship development. This study concludes with recommendations on how youth entrepreneurship can be improved in Kibera and the rest of Kenya. A total of 300 questionnaires were administered via e-mails with a total response rate of 83.3% (250) returned for analysis.


Introduction 
Since independence, the role of youth in Kenya has been largely peripheral leading to their current marginalization manifested in the form of unemployment, crime, drug abuse and passive involvement in constructive nation building (Rori, Bunei & Mwenzwa, 2011).Globally, youth unemployment was estimated to be 12.6% in 2013 and projected to increase to 12.7% in 2014 (Global employment Trend for Youth, 2013).In developed and Sub-Saharan African countries, youth unemployment was, respectively, 18.1 and 11.8%, on average during 2012 (Global employment Trend for Youth, 2013).While in Kenya, youth unemployment constituted 70% of total unemployment in 2007 (Kilele, 2008).On the other hand, South Africa's youth unemployment rate was estimated to be at 31.4% in 2013 (Statistics South Africa, 2014) which evidence the huge challenges that African countries face as far as young people are concerned.Like for any other developing nation, entrepreneurship and small business are the critical source of new jobs and economic dynamism to improve youth livelihoods and, also, their economic independence.According to Njoroge and Gathungu (2013), one of Africa's greatest limitations to economic development can be ascribed to its lack of entrepreneurs.Kshetri (2011) argued that Africans were entrepreneurial before colonization, but slowed down in the colonial period.Nevertheless, there  Wise Sambo, 2016.Wise Sambo, M.Tech., Economic and Management Sciences, Department of Business Management, University of South Africa, South Africa.
have been many successful entrepreneurs in Africa.Of late, entrepreneurship development in Kenya has been primarily focused on youth in technical training institutions and expanded to include the universities.Programs are intended at introducing youth to entrepreneurship education with the aim of getting them to think about entrepreneurship and the role of business entrepreneurs in economic development.They also get an opportunity to analyze the difficult employment situation in Kenya and are encouraged to consider self-employment as a career choice (Kaburi, Mobegi, Kombo, Omari & Sewe, 2012).Entrepreneurship and business creation are seen as a growing alternative for young people in Kenya (Kibera, in particular) whose age group often faces a labor market with double digit unemployment rates.For young people in the informal economy, micro-entrepreneurism is a bottom-up method for generating an income, selfreliance and a new innovative path to earning a living and caring for oneself (Maxwell, 2002).Albeit, it is recorded that a growing number of young people are taking up the challenge of starting their own business in Kenya and much is being learned about how the odds for success can be improved through various types of assistance and through the creation of a supportive environment" (Somavia, in Ulrich Schoof, 2006).

Research problem statement
The youth represent 43% of the working age population in Kenya and constitute 70% of total unemployment (Kilele, 2008).The youths in Kenya face vital challenges, particularly in the economic context of livelihoods (Omondi, 2013).A large population of young people is without work and many more are engaged in short-term, low-paid jobs or in the informal economy.Despite the fact that Kenya remains focused to achieve its Vision 2030, decent work can also shift young people from social dependence to self-sufficiency and escape from poverty.Entrepreneurship education can be seen to inform the best alternative to youth in accessing decent work and creating more job opportunities for others.Notwithstanding this universally agreed fact, the rate of young Kenyans starting successful enterprises is minimal.Poor economic participation of young people inhibits the country's economic development and high dependency on the working population.In this study, two objectives were sought to be appropriate to:  determine the government's provision of and access to the entrepreneurship education and training among the Kenyan youth; and to  determine whether there is a relationship between the level of education, training and development of youth entrepreneurship.
Furthermore, two hypothetical statements below were formulated and tested using descriptive statistics.The high unemployment rate that still prevails in the country shows that education in entrepreneurship has had little influence on job creation in Kenya (Njongeri, 2015).

Research methodology
The study followed a quantitative, nonexperimental, descriptive research approach.The population comprised of all members of the registered youth groups in Kenya.According to the Ministry of Youth Affairs, there were five hundred registered youth groups in Kenya in the year 2012, and twenty five were based in Kibera district.Kibera is a low income, informal settlement in southwest Nairobi, Kenya.With an estimated population of one million housed on less than 2% of the total municipal residential land (or 3,000 people per hectare), it holds one of the highest population densities in sub-Saharan Africa (Crosson, 2005).

Sample selection and size.
A simple random sampling technique was used to select the groups from which the respondents were drawn.The list of registered youth groups as obtained from the Ministry of Youth Affairs was used as the sample frame.Similarly, respondents were identified from the sampled youth groups by simple random sampling.For the purpose of this study, a sample size of three hundred (300) members (respondents) was drawn from twenty five youth groups in the Kibera district and only two hundred and fifty (250) were returned fully completed giving the response rate of 83.3%.A total of 15 questionnaires were spoiled because the respondents were over the age of 35, and the other 35 potential respondents did not respond despite numerous follow-ups.

Data collection.
A questionnaire was used as the instrument of collecting data and consisted of two sections, namely: Section A which covered demographics and business information, while Section B covered questions that addressed the factors affecting youth entrepreneurship in Kibera.The variables in the questionnaires were mainly based on the themes in the research objectives.Prior to completing the questionnaires, respondents were provided with informed consents to complete in order to ensure that they understand their right in that participation was voluntary.Once the respondents accepted the informed consent, they, then, gained full access to the questionnaires.In instances where filling of the questionnaire encountered difficulties, the researcher adopted interviews.Where an interview was used, the questionnaire formed the basis of the questions asked.In this case, six (6) of the questionnaires that were outstanding had to be completed face to face through this interview method at the respondents' premises to fast track the completion of data collection process.In quantitative research, the survey approach allows for a large collection of data and can be administered face-toface, by telephone or mail.Mail administered surveys have a wide reach, are relatively cheap to administer, information is standardized and privacy can be maintained.Therefore, the questionnaires were sent to respondents via e-mails, and eighteen (18) of them were physically collected by the fieldworker who is based in Kibera.To ensure survey validity, reliability and consistency of the questionnaires, a pilot study was carried out with eight students doing B.Com.Entrepreneurship at the University of South Africa.This group was selected because it is common knowledge that majority of students are within the youth age group, and the piloted students are studying towards entrepreneurship which makes them understand aspects of entrepreneurship education better.The aim of the pilot survey was to determine the scientific correctness of the questionnaires, to note statements that needed clarifications and to establish how long the questionnaires will take to complete.

Data analysis.
This began with pre-processing of collected data through editing to detect errors and omissions and making corrections.The researcher undertook careful analysis of the questionnaires for completeness, accuracy and consistency with other information gathered.
Descriptive statistics was used to test the null hypothesis, and the collected information was coded and computed using OriginPro 9.1.

Demographics of the sampled youth entrepreneurs' in Kibera.
There was an equal distribution of gender in business enterprises that were sampled.This shows that youth in Kibera, both male and female, has equal opportunities when it comes to entrepreneurship activities.In terms of age, most of the youth running business enterprises in Kibera was towards the upper end of youth age which is between 26-29 years (n = 18.60%).Only a few tend to start businesses at the age of 18-21 years (n = 1.3%), but this number seems to grow drastically when they reach the age of 26-29 years and, exponentially, when they are in the 30-35 years age group.With regard to education, all the target group members had formal education.This is supported by the large number of primary and secondary schools in the region together with government provision of "Free Primary Education".Most of the youth has reached diploma level (n = 15.50%).

Type of business operations.
Most of the businesses can be scaled as small scale businesses that have a potential to grow.Interaction with most respondents pointed out that they do not have adequate capital to start or grow their businesses to a middle level business enterprise.It was also noted that more women than men operated groceries.An almost equal number of the two genders operated salons and barber shops.A higher percentage (95%) of all car wash and garages were operated by men.Other business enterprises noted in this research included kiosks, boutiques, butcheries and supermarkets.

Length of business operation.
It was noted that most of the business started have not yet lasted for two years.This indicates that most of the businesses started do not last for a long period.It is perceived that this high rate of business failures is due to youth expecting very high returns in a short duration.Other reasons perceived for this high failure rate include the level of education (Herrington, Kew, Simrie & Turton, 2011), government policies, provision and access to entrepreneurship education (Herrington, Kew & Kew, 2009).It was also noted that, as time goes by, the chances of sustaining a business in Kibera also decline.Very few businesses that were started by the youth in Kibera have lasted for 7 to 9 years.H 0 (null hypothesis): There is no relationship between the level of education & training and the development of youth entrepreneurship.

Hypotheses testing
In order to determine how the provision of access to entrepreneurship education and the entrepreneur's level of education affect youth entrepreneurship development, a Pearson product moment correlation was computed using OriginPro 9.1.Similar results were obtained when Microsoft Excel 2013 was used.The results were interpreted as shown in Table 1.

Correlation between
Is said to be .This indicates that the Kenyan government is indeed supporting youth entrepreneurship in Kibera but their efforts, to a certain degree, appear to be less successful which can be attributed to either unwillingness of the youths to take up the opportunities or other factors not considered in this study such as poor communication from government agencies to the youths, high cost of higher learning institutions or long bureaucracies in terms accessing services and registration of the business enterprises.This research therefore suggests that the government should come up with better ways to disperse information targeted to the youths such as organizing a series of workshops and seminars to the people of Kibera.Better ways to disperse information on government policies and opportunities should also be sought for so that the good ideas and intentions of the government can easily be accessed by the youths.

5. 4 .
Revisiting the hypotheses.The statistical procedure used to test the hypotheses of the study was Pearson correlation coefficient.The following hypotheses were tested in this study: H 0 (null hypothesis): There is no relationship between provision of entrepreneurship education & training and the development of youth entrepreneurship.
(Kaburi et al., 2012)in the study, entrepreneurship development in Kenya is recently aimed at youth, as can be seen in many technical and vocational institutions and even expanded to universities(Kaburi et al., 2012).
1. H 0 (null hypothesis): There is no application of enterprising qualities, such as initiative, innovation, creativity, and risk-taking into the work environment (either in self-employment or employment in small start-up firms), using the appropriate skills necessary for success in that environment and culture by individuals within the youth age group bracket (18-35).institutions in the country.Various programs by the government of Kenya such as Youth and Women Enterprise Development Fund have been put in place to facilitate the creation of entrepreneurial ventures (Sagwe, Gicharu & Mahea, 2011).The Ministry of State for Youth Affairs in partnership with various private financial intermediaries is administering the Youth Enterprise Development Fund to the youth (Moraa New Hope Foundation, 2015).This fund has been specifically tailored to enhance the youth to develop with focus on self-employment via entrepreneurship initiatives.Youth can access these funds either individually or in groups, and the collateral to secure the money borrowed has been made affordable in the sense that it can be in a form of group guarantee, guarantee by parents, relatives or even community leaders.With these eased regulations, Moraa New Hope Foundation (2015) hopes that youth in the country will be able to work towards the realization of their life goals that were hindered by the tough regulations that have in the past barred them from accessing credit facilities.However, these initiatives are not without challenges.Recently, substandard institutions have come up to 3.2.Barriers that hinder youth entrepreneurship development in Kenya.This study uses the term "challenge" interchangeably with "barriers" throughout the paper depending on how different authors have reported their research in the literature.

Table 2 .
Correlation between the provision of entrepreneurship education & training and youth entrepreneurship development

Table 2 (
cont.).Correlation between the provision of entrepreneurship education & training and youth entrepreneurship development

Table 3 .
Correlation between youth entrepreneurship development and level of educationConclusionsThis study investigated factors that affect youth entrepreneurship development in Kibera district in Kenya with specific reference to entrepreneurship education.These factors were provision and access to entrepreneurship education and training, the relationship between the level of education and youth entrepreneurship development.The study found that provision of entrepreneurship education has a strong positive relationship with development of youth entrepreneurship and the level of education has a very weak positive relationship to youth entrepreneurship development.The positive relationship shows that the Kenyan government is indeed supporting youth entrepreneurship in Kibera, though other scholars maintain that the efforts are less successful than expected.This situation is not only unique to Kenya, Likewise, in South Africa programs and investment into youth enterprise development have been unsuccessful.This can be attributed to either unwillingness of the youths to take up the opportunities or other factors not considered in this study such as poor communication channel between the government agencies and the youths, high cost of higher level education or long bureaucracies in terms of accessing services such as registration of the business enterprises.The negative relationship between the level of education and youth entrepreneurship development indicated that youth entrepreneurship does not depend on the level of education attained by the youth.Therefore, this study suggests that any youth, with a little formal or informal education on entrepreneurship, can start and maintain a business.Recommendations and policy implications  The government of Kenya and other institutionsoffering BDS services should embark on aggressive marketing campaigns in order to increase the awareness of such support initiatives among young people in Kibera.These marketing efforts could include radio, television, billboards, social media, the internet and, most importantly, townships roadshows. Further studies on factors affecting youth entrepreneurship development in Kibera should be conducted.These factors are, but not limited to, poor communication channel between the government agencies and the youth, student drop out from schools in both primary and secondary level despite provision of free education, high cost of higher level education and long bureaucracies in terms of accessing services, such as registration of the business enterprises.