Determinants of small-scale business failure among the youths in Uganda: a case study Makerere Kikoni Kampala.

Abstract

Micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as those enterprises that employ not more than 250 employees and work on small scale. This study aimed at establishing the demographic and socioeconomic factors that affect the failure of small-scale business owned by the youths and finding out the performance of small-scale business owned by youths during school holidays (school closure). The researcher used a cross sectional survey design basing on the use of quantitative approach that was adopted to establish the relationship between of small-scale business failure and background characteristics. This study used a sample size of 61 businesses owned by youths in Makerere Kikoni. Statistical Analysis tool, STATA was used during the univariate, bivariate and multivariate levels of analysis to establish the distribution of the respondents and the relationship between the dependent variable and independent variables. The study revealed that the majority of the businesses were successful (54.1%) and failure were (45.9%). It also showed that business owned by youths with high level of education have 60% more odds of not failing. The study concluded that age, sex, education, business experience affected the performance of SMEs owned by youths in Kikoni Makerere. This was because their p-values were less than 0.05. With age, youths between 15-19 years are more likely to fail in business unlike those who are above 30 years. The study recommends that education should be included in aspects of the business to facilitate more knowledge with both the various stakeholders in business.