Influence of Microfinance Services on the Growth of Women Owned Enterprises in Bondo Town, Kenya

The objective of the study was to determine the influence of micro-credit services on the growth of women owned business enterprises. The study was guided by Pecking Order Theory as well as Theory of Capital Structure. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The study target population was 106 registered women entrepreneurs operating in Bondo town, Siaya County. The sample size for this study was 83 respondents determined by Yamane (1967), selected using stratified random sampling technique. Data in this study was collected using questionnaires. The data collected was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Regression analysis was used to show the correlation and strength of the relationship between variables both independent and dependent. Data was presented using frequency tables. The study revealed a strong positive correlation (r = 0.863) which was statistically significant as p less than 0.05 (p = 0.000) between savings services offered by microfinance institutions and growth of women owned enterprises. This implies that as microfinance savings services have a strong positive influence of the growth of women owned enterprises in Bondo town. The study recommends a similar study in other regions using different microfinance services not covered in this study. Government and microfinance institutions should encourage women to register their businesses to promote easy access to such microfinance services and microfinance institutions to provide comprehensive services including microcredit, savings and training to customers for more growth impact.