Influence of Youth Perception on Entrepreneurship in Kenya: A Case of Uasin Gishu County

Abstract

Kenya has a population of approximately 40 million with those aged 35 years and below making up over 75% of the population. In 2003 and 2005, when the national unemployment level stood at 40%, the youth accounted for about 78% and 67% of the national unemployment in the two years respectively. Most recent college and university graduates fall in this category and it is becoming increasingly necessary to get more and more of them to engage in self-employment. This requires a concerted effort to change college students’ perceptions towards self-employment. The current qualitative study focuses on the role that colleges can play in enhancing entrepreneurial intentions among the youth. The college environments and exposure to entrepreneurship experiences are found to be two malleable antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions working through self-efficacy and perceptions of desirability. It is on this background that this aimed at accessing the influence of the youth perception on entrepreneurship in Uasin Gishu County in Kenya. The finding of the research will add to the knowledge and understanding of the motivation for Kenyan youth to be entrepreneurs in Kenya. This study used descriptive correlational survey design as it sought to describe and establish the relationships among the study variables. This being a census study, all the youth groups in Uasin Gishu County which were registered and licensed by the department youth and social services as at February 2014, and still in operation at the time of data collection were studied. Both primary and secondary data was used in this study. Primary data was collected through the use of key informant method and a self- administered questionnaire. Hence, all the chairmen and secretaries of every youth group was selected to take part in the study as they are perceived to be knowledgeable on the issues under study and for which they are either responsible for their execution or they personally execute them. The regression results shows that entrepreneurship largely depends on the youth perception with 71.1 percent of the County’s entrepreneurship being explained by youth perception (R squared = 0.711). The study results show that youth perception (culture, unemployment, leadership and altitude) were found to significantly and positively affect entrepreneurship.

Key words: Youth perception, Entrepreneurship, Uasin Gishu County, Kenya