KENYA - Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Survey 2016

2016-06-27

The MSME sector in Kenya has over the years been recognized for its role in provision of goods and services, enhancing competition, fostering innovation, generating employment and in effect, alleviation of poverty. The crucial role of MSMEs is underscored in Kenya's Vision 2030 - the development blueprint which seeks to transform Kenya into an industrialized middle-income country, providing a high-quality life to all its citizens by the year 2030. The MSME sector has been identified and prioritized as a key growth driver for achievement of the development blue print.

The measurement of the size of the sector in terms of employment as well as its contribution to Gross Domestic Product [GDP] and the generation of income is of major importance. This is not only because of their usefulness in the design of appropriate policies and programmes but also in understanding their dynamics in terms of income, wages, growth patterns, sector and their evolving nature among others. MSMEs tend to be dynamic: the structure and their operations change considerably within a short time. The last comprehensive study is the 1999 National Micro and Small Enterprise (MSE) Baseline Survey. The 2016 National MSME Survey was therefore, designed to respond to the existing data gap and sought to provide data at national and county levels. The unit of observation was the establishments and the survey targeted those that engaged at most 99 persons. The terms establishment, enterprise and business are however, used interchangeably in this report.

Census/enumeration data [cen]

i) National

ii) Counties and

iii) Urban and rural residence