Nexus Between Capacity-Building Strategic Renewal and Performance of Youth-Owned Agro-Processing Small and Medium Enterprises in Selected Counties in Kenya
For the success of any business, there is a need for continuous improvement of the competitive advantage. The ever-changing economic
environment is a big challenge for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) especially those that don’t possess strategic plans. In the recent
turbulent times caused by globalization, SMEs are facing challenges and this has seen a number of them collapsing. The purpose of this study
was to examine the nexus between capacity-building strategic renewal and performance of youth-owned agro-processing SMEs in selected
counties in Kenya which variables of the study were investment training, management skills training, and bookkeeping training. The study was
anchored on transformation learning theory and the research design adopted was a descriptive cross-sectional survey. The study targeted youthowned
agro-processing SMEs registered by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the four County Governments namely, Nyeri, Kirinyanga,
Murang’a, and Nyandarua. The sampling frame was 287 and the population under study was 287 youth-owned agro-processing SMEs. The study
gathered primary data using a semi-structured questionnaire with predetermined questions and highly standardized techniques of recording.
The findings of the study were presented by the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. From the findings, the overall model of the study
was R2 = 0.498, meaning that capacity-building strategies explained 49.8% of the variation in performance. The study coefficients was 0.834,
tis 19.141, which was >2, and a p-value of 0.000 which implied that there was a statistically significant influence of capacity-building strategies
on the performance of youth-owned agro-processing SMEs. In conclusion, it was noted that capacity-building influences the performance of the
youth-owned agro-processing SMEs in selected counties in Kenya. This study recommends that there is a need for SMEs to further establish
capacity-building strategies.
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