The Influence of Entrepreneurship on the Growth of Micro and Small Enterprises in Thika Town, Kenya
Samson Paul Nyang’au

Abstract
This study sought to establish the influence of entrepreneurship on the growth of small and micro enterprises in the textile industry, in Thika town. The study adopted 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 Municipal Council 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, percentages and frequencies) and inferential statistics (correlation and regression). The study achieved a response rate of 61.95%. Majority of the respondents (79%) indicated that level of entrepreneurship among micro and small enterprises owners in the textile industry in Thika town was high. The study also revealed that the level of growth of enterprises was high as reported by 57% of the respondents. The study established a positive correlation between motivation and growth of small and micro enterprises with a correlation coefficient of 0.533. The p-value was (0.000) less than the alpha of 0.01 hence establishing a high significant relationship between variables. The study concludes that there has been a remarkable growth in small and micro enterprise in the textile industry at Thika town as a result of high levels of entrepreneurship. In order to sustain the growth, owners of the enterprises should the county government should organize regular short term training programmes to empower the enterprise owners with skills on entrepreneurship.

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