The Role of Financial Literacy on the Profitability of Women Owned Enterprises in Kitui Town, Kitui County, Kenya

Women form a higher percentage of the population in the world compared with men. They also form great percentage of all entrepreneurs in the world. The global economy is heavily dependent on the success of women which is seen as one way of creating employment, poverty alleviation and developments which brings about economic growth in rural and urban areas. The government of Kenya is determined to raise middle class status of the nation by the year 2030 through empowerment of women and businesses. In August 2007, the Kenyan government through the Ministry of Devolution and Planning established Women Enterprise Fund which provides accessible and affordable credit support to women to start or expand business for wealth and employment creation. In 2013 a flagship programme to vision 2030 was started, the uwezo fund which is aimed at enabling women access finances to promote businesses and enterprises at the constituency level thereby enhancing economic growth towards realization of the same and the millennium development goals. Despite all these, the women in Kenya face challenges which hinder them from attaining economies of scale. They are financially illiterate which result to poor management of resources and business. The purpose of this paper was to determine the role of financial literacy on the profitability of women owned businesses. The specific objectives of this study are to establish role of budgeting, cash management, savings and record keeping on the profitability of women owned businesses. The study was conducted among the business women in Kitui town, Kitui County, Kenya. A sample of seventy six women business owners were selected for the study using stratified random sampling technique. The study used a descriptive survey research to investigate the factors influencing profitability of women owned businesses. The researcher used self-administered structured questionnaire to collect data from a sample of selected business women. The collected data was coded and entered in computer for analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The study concluded that budgeting, cash management, savings and record keeping significantly influenced profitability of women owned businesses. The study recommends that women should be trained in financial related programs to enhance their capacities. The government and other industry players should emphasize on the importance of financial literacy in day to day running of their business. There is need to initiate more financial literacy programs to reach as many women as possible not for proper management of business but also proper management of resources. This will in effect result to increase profitability of their businesses. Key words, Financial Literacy, Women Owned Businesses, Profitability, Kitui