Lilian Wanjiru Mwai

The development and sustainability of the SMEs in the economy is of paramount importance if the dream of wealth creation is to be realized at all. The main sources of credit to SMEs are relatives and friends, formal banks, MFIs and personal savings. There has been a lot of emphasis on provision of financial services to SMEs in form of credit and despite catalytic role expected to be played by MFIs in facilitating economic growth through SMEs, the enterprises have continually faced persistent barriers in accessing funds for investments. This study therefore tried and filled the gap by investigating the challenges facing SME’s in accessing credit from micro finance institutions. The study found out the effect that collateral, size and organizational structure have on SMEs access to credit from MFIs.  To achieve this, the literature review offered insights and review the critical points of current and past knowledge including substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to the topic.

Rebecca A. Ayallo

Kamau, Joseph Mwaura

Despite presence of credit providers, credit inaccessibility remains a major issue in Kenya. Credit plays an important role in the economy by increasing investment, production and consumption and thereby economic growth and development in general. In Kenya the ministry of co-operative jointly with Ministry of Agriculture has tried to address the issue of SME credit but still it seems yet to be far from achieving its set objective which has remained rather unclear and especially in the area of credit supply. Despite the financial deepening arising from financial liberalization, the gains have not been translated to the rural areas and low income areas in terms of improved income levels. The growth of the ratio of money supply (M2) to GDP would have implied availability of finances for credit.  However, this may not be the case as there are several factors that influences demand for credit. The entrepreneurs in Juja market, who are a representative of the population in Thika district and its environs, have the potential to operate big entrepreneur because of its strategic location.

Njeu Jane Muthoni

Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) has not played an important role in the Kenyan economy despite the reforms that have been undertaken and the many incentives provided to foreign investors. FDI levels in Kenya have been on a declining state since 1980s, compared to the neighboring countries such as Uganda and Tanzania. Hence there has been much concern among policy makers over the decline which they attribute to low investor confidence resulting from insecurity, corruption high level of real interest rates and limited legal resource. It’s against this back ground that the study seeks to undertake to find what really the key determinants of FDI in Kenya are.The general objective of the study then was to analyze the determinants affecting FDI in Kenya. The study made use of secondary data over the period 1990-2010 from World Bank Indicators (WDI) and Transparency International (TI).The study employed five objectives. The first objective was to establish whether physical infrastructure has effect on the flow of FDI, the second was to establish whether corruption affects FDI inflows to Kenya.