INFLUENCE OF CREDIT AWARENESS AND COLLATERAL SECURITY ON ACCESS TO FINANCIAL CREDIT BY WOMEN OWNED ENTERPRISES IN KAKAMEGA COUNTY, KENYA

This study sought to investigate the influence of credit awareness and collateral security on access to financial credit by women owned enterprises in Kakamega County, Kenya. The study targeted 303 officials of the women owned enterprises in Kakamega County. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and piloted on women owned enterprises in Bungoma County (15 respondents). Descriptive analysis was used to compute frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations while for variable relationships, inferential analysis was computed. SPSS version 24 was used to compute descriptive and inferential statistics. Data was presented in form of tables and graphs. The study provided empirical data on significant factors that really hindered access to financial credit by women owned enterprises. A total of 105 out of 172 respondents returned completely filled questionnaires representing a response rate of 61.05% which was good for generalizability of results to a wider population. All conceptualized independent variables significantly influenced access to financial credit by women owned enterprises in Kakamega County. The study concluded that credit awareness significantly determines access to finance by women owned enterprises in Kakamega County, Kenya. Secondly, collateral security significantly influences financial access thus stringent collateral securities by financial lending institutions can discourage access to finance by women owned enterprises. The study recommended that financial lending institutions should have more marketing programs to reach more women owned enterprises who could not be aware of financial lending. Secondly, financial lending institutions should craft lenient collateral security measures so as to attract borrowing from women owned enterprises. Key Words: Credit Awareness, Collateral Security, Financial Credit, Women Owned Enterprises CITATION: Muyaka, C., & Otinga, H. N. (2019). Influence of credit awareness and collateral security on access to financial credit by women owned enterprises in Kakamega County, Kenya. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 6 (2), 296 – 310.