Role of entrepreneurial leadership in the growth of micro and small enterprises in Thika town, Kenya

Abstract

Entrepreneurial leadership plays a very important part in the growth of micro and small enterprises particularly in the textile industry among others. This study sought to establish therole of entrepreneurial leadership in the growth of micro and small enterprises in the textileindustry, in Thika town. The study adopted a quantitative research approach. Specifically it employed a survey research design to collect data. The study covered a sample of 226 drawn from a population of 526 micro and small enterprises of Thika Sub-County who make thread to cloth. The sample was selected through simple random sampling. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive (mean) and inferential statistics (T-tests, correlation and regression). The study established a positive correlation between motivation, entrepreneurial influence, mentorship, delegation of duties and growth of micro and small enterprises. The results also indicated that motivation, mentorship, delegation and entrepreneurial influence accounted for fifty-seven percent of the variation in growth of micro and small enterprises. The regression analysis results indicated that an increase in delegation, mentorship, entrepreneurial influence and motivation by one unit would increase growth of the units respectively. The study concluded that there has been a positive growth in micro and small enterprise in Thika town as a result of high entrepreneurial leadership among the supervisors, owners and managers of the enterprises. In order to sustain the growth, owners of the enterprises should develop a programme of motivating the employees for their hard work. There is need for the County government to organize short term training programmes to build the capacity of the entrepreneurs owing to the fact that majority only possess secondary education.