Abstract:
The MSEs are globally the focus of policy makers due to their ability to distribute incomes in both rural and urban areas for poverty reduction. Government policy and regulations is a major determinant of women MSE business start up, growth and graduation in to medium and large scale enterprises. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of government policy and regulations on the growth of women owned Micro and Small Enterprises in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. Questionnaires, interview schedules and observation methods were used to collect data from 170 sampled women group MSE owner managers under Women Enterprise Fund subsidized credit scheme in Trans-Nzoia County who were licensed by the county revenue department and have been in business between 2009 and 2014. Growth was measured in terms of change in sales revenue, profit and number of employees before and after Women Enterprise Fund intervention measures. The data was summarised and analysed using frequency distribution, mean, correlation analysis, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and linear regression analysis. The study found out that Government policy and regulations had statistically insignificant relationship with growth of women MSEs at 0.05 level of significance. It was recommended that the Government in conjunction with County Governments should accelerate technology upgrading, provision of modern business infrastructure and reduce bureaucratic regulatory regime to women Micro and Small Enterprises in order to spur their meaningful and faster growth. To attain production and marketing economies of scale, clustering of women MSEs with subsequent subcontracting arrangements with medium and large enterprises was also recommended
