Financing Micro Enterprises for Sustainable Development

This book examines the challenges faced by micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Kenya. It specifically focuses on the financial challenges the businesses encounter in their daily operations. Financial options available for the MSEs, reliability and the efficiency with which the finance is utilized by the entrepreneurs is assessed. The author observes that most of the MSEs in Kenya depend on informal sources for their finance and that such finance is not only unreliable but also inadequate. He posits that the available formal sources are either too expensive for the businessmen or not well publicised for the businessmen to have adequate information about them. He thus observes that the main problem is not availability of the finance from the formal sources but their accessibility to the business owners. The personalized nature of the businesses brings about the problem of allocation of resources between the owners' personal needs and those of the business. Consequently, he recommends the establishment of financial options focused on the small and micro enterprises as well as follow-up by financiers to ensure appropriate utilization of funds.