Contribution of Rural Electrification Project on Small Scale Business Ventures Undertaken By Women in Thurdibuoro Location, Kisumu County, Kenya

Abstract

In Kenya, electricity is used as a conduit to facilitate poverty eradication by lighting up the rural and marginal areas thus making such areas to be conducive for small and medium business ventures. A closer scrutiny of small scale business ventures undertaken by women in Kisumu County reveal that contrary to the expectation of social and economic transformation as a result of availability of electricity in rural areas, much is yet to be achieved since small scale businesses are still operating under difficult conditions. The constraints that impede small scale business ventures are numerous. It is on the basis of this that this study has been initiated in order to examine contributions of rural electrification project on small scale business ventures undertaken by women in Thurdibuoro·· Location, Kisumu County. The specific objectives of the study were; to examine small scale business ventures undertaken by women in Thurdibuoro Location, to identify the contribution of rural electrification project to women business initiation and status in Thurdibuoro Location, to establish socio-economic factors determining women access to rural electrification in Thurdibuoro Location and to examine the effect of rural electrification project on business hours and efficiency of small scale business ventures undertaken by women in Thurdibuoro Location. Cross-sectional descriptive survey design was adopted 'as a blue print to guide the study. The target population of the study was about 10,117 women undertaking small scale business ventures in Thurdibuoro Location. The sample size of 390 respondents was selected based on Yamane (1967) as described by Glenn (1992). Systematic random sampling technique was applied in identifying the respondents. Primary instruments used for data collection included questionnaires, key informant interview guide and focus group discussions guides. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in form of frequencies and percentages. Qualitative data was transcribed, organized into various emerging themes and reported narratively. The findings of the study were; the most dominant business ventures which mushroomed as a result of availability of electricity were salons and shop keeping at 14.3% each among other types of business ventures, on business ownership, 85.8% of women started their business with the advent of rural electrification, 57.1 % of respondents responded positively towards Rural Electrification Project (REP) as a cornerstone to empower them to venture . into business, 81.0% respondents agreed that presence of electricity had positively impacted on quality of education and 52.4% respondents appreciated the role of electricity in provision of better health services, 47.6% of respondents agreed that introduction of electricity had impacted on their businesses with 90.4% increasing their asset base and 78.8% agreed that availability of electricity had increased business hours. The study concluded that majority of small scale business ventures were initiated courtesy of availability of electricity, majority of women undertaking small scale business ventures responded positively towards REP, availability of electricity increased sales and income hence impacted positively on the livelihood of women respondents. The study recommended that Rural electrification project should be extended to cover remote rural ~reas, should be domesticated to authenticate its reliability and affordability so as to continue tapping its fundamental role of supporting the initiation of small scale business ventures and should be intensified to facilitate extension of business hours in order to facilitate the widening of business opportunities and market choices for entrepreneurs with a view of transforming rural areas into a 24-hours market economy. The research findings contributed towards filling the gap identified by examining how electricity services facilitated the increase in income of micro-enterprises in rural areas and finally contributed to poverty reduction.