Abstract:
The success of many Women-Owned Micro-Enterprise Projects (WOMEPs) is highly dependent on reliable access
to credit services as a source of capital. However, due to prevalence of numerous socio-cultural practices such
as patriarchy, social discrimination, norms/taboos, negative perceptions and social stigma, a number of these
projects fail to get adequate access to credit financing. Consequently, they fail to reach their full potential. This
study therefore sought to investigate the influence of socio-cultural practices on credit uptake behaviour of
women-owned micro-enterprise projects in Machakos Sub-County, Machakos County.The sample included 504
women micro entrepreneurs, 8 credit managers, 7 credit officers and 2 Machakos County Social Development
Officials. Data was collected using the questionnaire. Data analysis was done using both descriptive and
inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics included frequencies and percentages whereas inferential statistics
involved regression analysis in the SPSS version 22.0 software. Regression analysis results revealed that a unit
rise in the prevalence of socio-cultural practices is likely to reduce credit uptake amongst women micro
enterprises by about 32.7%. The implication is that socio-cultural practices have a significant negative influence
on credit uptake behaviour of the women owned micro enterprise projects. The study therefore recommended that
the national and county governments should institute legislations to curb retrogressive socio-cultural practices
especially in rural set ups in order to increase credit uptake capacity of women micro entrepreneurs.
