Socio-Economic and Legal Factors Affecting Growth of Businesses Owned by Entrepreneurs with Disabilities (EwD's) in Rural Areas in Kenya: A Case of Meru County

In Kenya, over 1.3 million Persons live with disabilities with most of them being generally economically deprived. An alternative career option for persons with disabilities is self-employment where the entrepreneur enjoys freedom, flexibility, and independence. Past researchers have focused more on EwDs in the urban areas and this study therefore sought to bridge this gap by establishing socio-economic and legal factors affecting growth of businesses owned by entrepreneurs with disability in rural areas in Kenya a case of Meru County. The target population comprised of 2021 entrepreneurs with disability, 22 managers in Youth Polytechnics, 5 principals in technical training institute and 40 government officers. The researcher used a combination of stratified and purposive sampling method to select the respondents. The study established that majority of EwDs were not conversant with the positive changes in business environment, lacked mentors, had little business training levels and felt that increase in loan amounts and timely disbursement of funds in government funding programs would play a key role in growing their businesses. Therefore, the study concluded that policy and regulatory environment, technical and vocational training, access to capital and finances and mentorship programs affects growth of businesses owned by EwDs in rural areas in Kenya