Networking Skills and Performance of Youth-Owned Micro and Small Enterprises in Nairobi Metropolitan Region

The government of Kenya has undertaken several measures such as upgrading of metropolitan market to support and nurture youth entrepreneurship in Kenya. Despite, the various government policies, statistics show low performance among youth owned micro and small enterprises. Entrepreneurship skills have been documented to be a driver of firm performance. Thus, the purpose of the study was to establish the effect of networking skills on performance of youth-owned MSEs. The study adopted dual positivist and interpretivism approaches as research philosophy and exploratory research design. The sample size was 344 respondents selected from seven markets in the Nairobi metropolitan region. The study used questionnaires to collect the data. Data analysis involved the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings established that networking skills had a positive and significant influence on performance of youth-owned MSEs. This implies that possession of networking skills among youth entrepreneurs is essential for performance of their enterprises. The study concluded that networking skills played a crucial role in enhancing the performance of youth MSEs in the newly upgraded markets. The study recommended that possession of networking skills such as relational skills, partner’s knowledge and internal communication skills among youth entrepreneurs is essential for performance of their enterprises. Keywords—entrepreneurial; networking skills; youth-owned; micro and small enterprises DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/17-2-08 Publication date: February 28th 2025