| dc.description.abstract | ABSTRACT
Sole proprietor is one of the most vulnerable businesses. Issues affecting them are shortage of
working capital, intensity of competition, inadequate business development services, collateral
requirement by financial institutions, and conflict with neighbors and lack of transparency in their
businesses. Vulnerabilities faced by sole proprietors have resulted in underachievement of full
business potential. The purpose of the study was to assess the vulnerability of sole proprietor
businesses in Awendo Town, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to; characterize sole proprietor
businesses; identify factors that influence growth of sole proprietor businesses and identify workfamily conflicts of sole proprietor businesses in Awendo Town. Descriptive research design was
applied. This involved field survey of sole proprietor businesses in the Town. The target population
was 1,175 sole traders all located within the Town. The population was stratified according to
supermarkets, wholesalers, retailers, Jua kali workshops and market StallslKiosks. The study applied
simple random sampling to select 96 traders registered by municipal council. Questionnaires used
were administered on traders to collect data on business characteristics and challenges while
interviews were administered to municipal officers as well as officers ofline ministries. Secondary
data was obtained from both published and unpublished materials. Data analysis technique used was
qualitative and quantitative which was by use of content analysis and frequencies and was presented
by use of graphs and bar charts. From the study, sole proprietor business could be characterised
according to the age, experience, and education of the sole trader. The study revealed that
Entrepreneurs with vast experiences in managing business are more capable of finding ways to open
new business compared to employees with different career pathways and that those with higher levels
of education are more successful because university education provides them with knowledge and
modem managerial skills, making them more conscious of the reality of the business world and thus
in a position to use their learning capability to manage business. The sole proprietor's growth is
influenced by cost of running business, accessibility of finance, marketing strategy, management and
control, financial size, age of businesses, innovations, legal status of business, competition,and
location of the business, cash-flow and taxation. Obstacles were lack of capital for expansion of
business and cash flow problems, marketing constrains, and crime among others. The study .also
revealed that Business- family conflicts are caused by lack of sole proprietor separating business and
family issues and not putting succession plan in place. The study concluded that the greatest
challenge to the sole traders in Awendo Town is the high cost of getting finances to boost their
businesses. The study recommends that sole traders should be sensitized more about the advantages
of taking up loans from loaning institutions, for their business and be encouraged to intensify their
training, marketing and innovation skills. Sole traders should also be encouraged to keep proper
books of accounts of the activities they carry out in their businesses to enable them track their
incomes and expenditures and also access credit facilities from other organizations and agencies that
can support their courses. Sole traders should consider organizing themselves into groups to give
them the capacity of accessing adequate capital to invest in relatively reasonable sizes of businesses
to reap a better return due to economies of scale. Sole Traders should also pay themselves salaries
and keep off business issues from family conflicts.
MASENO UNIVERSITY'
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