Financial Technology (Fintech) has a long history. According to Tufano (2016), the term Fintech was first used in the 1950s. Innovation has been more significant in the money industry throughout time in ways that most people ignore. Organizations are now compelled to use financial technology in order to improve their efficacy and efficiency. SMEs continue to face the challenges of minimally affordable and available financial services to support their operations. Financial technology solutions have a tremendous influence on the financial well-being of many millions of people throughout the globe, particularly the poor. Despite SMEs playing an essential role in the economy, they are plagued by several issues. According to Pius (2020), for every five companies established, only three companies survive past five months and only one survives past five years. 80% of the surviving companies went bankrupt before the fifth year World Bank (2015). The study sought to determine the effect of financial technology usage on growth of Small and Medium Enterprises. The target population was 826 heads of the Small and Medium Enterprises in Nairobi County, Kenya. Structured questionnaire was the main tool of collecting data. Data analysis entailed both descriptive and inferential methods. Descriptive statistics comprised the means and standard deviations whereas inferential statistics entailed simple linear regressions. The respondents agreed that mobile money services, mobile loan services and internet banking are vital for SME growth in Nairobi, Kenya. The study found that mobile money services, mobile loan services and internet banking explain 40.8% growth of SMEs. In addition, ANOVA output suggests that financial technology usage is a satisfactory indicator of SME growth (F value= 44.351, 0.000<0.05). Regression coefficient of mobile money services (β=.303, p-value=0.000), mobile loan services (β=.249, p-value=0.001) and internet banking (β=.198, p-value=0.037) have positive and significant relationship with SME growth. The study concludes that mobile money services as an aspect of financial technology usage has a positive and significant relationship with SME growth. Access to credit is vital for business growth and hence barriers ought to be eliminated. Growth in financial technology has left SMEs with no option but to embrace innovative business models such as application of internet banking. The study recommends development of more products by mobile money service providers that are innovative and capture the aspirations of the users. The access to mobile credit loans services has been characterized by bureaucracies and through reduced restrictions, measures and structures, SMEs stand to benefit more. Internet banking is very important in saving time of queuing in bank halls in order to be served. However, internet infrastructure has been a challenge in most emerging economies especially now that this service is supported by telecommunication network which still remain incomplete in most areas. Therefore, it is recommended that banks and telecommunication providers should develop a product that can access internet even in those areas that have poor network connection. This will help in ensuring that everyone can utilize internet banking in all areas as long as one has access to any form of telecommunication network. Few studies have been done regarding the financial technology usage and this resulted to a limitation of the study.

Street vending being a subsector of MSEs exponentially grows with urbanization. The main goal of street vending is to ensure that individuals earn an income and improve on their livelihoods. This however is far from being achieved based on the available evidence especially in Africa that anchors income maximization. The major aim of the study was to establish determinants of profitability of street vending business in Kisumu Central Business District, Kenya. Particularly, it aimed to establish the influence of financial niche, creativity, experience, gender, and level of education on profitability of street vending business in Kisumu Central Business District. This study utilized a descriptive research design. The study population comprised street vending businesses within Kisumu CBD. The study’s sample size was 384 street vending businesses. The study used primary data collected using questionnaire. The questionnaire was selfadministered. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25 was used to analyze data. Data analysis comprised of both descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics involved mean, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages while inferential statistics involved multiple regression analysis. The results were in form of tables. The study concluded that financial niche, creativity, gender, and level of education influenced profitability of street vending business in Kisumu Central Business District. The study findings indicated that financial niche, creativity, experience and, level of education had a weak positive influence on profitability of street vending business. Experience however indicated a negative relationship with profitability. In relation to the findings of the study, the study recommended that the Kenyan government should assess the guidelines governing street vending in a bid to create a favorable environment for the business to continue thriving. The study proposed that a similar study be conducted in another area to determine whether the results would be different from this study.

Donor projects funded by donors play crucial role in complementing different roles of governments in the delivery of key developmental needs within societies for instance access to socio-economic services such as shelter, affordable healthcare, clean water, food and affordable education among other services. Approaches of community participation has attracted attention of global development agencies such as the World Bank, USAID, and United Nations among others in supporting the sustainability of donor-funded projects. Sustainability of projects funded by donor calls for the need to involve targeted beneficiaries and local communities in various phases of such projects. In Soweto Slums Kenya, World Vision has been undertaking donor funded entrepreneurial skills development projects. However, there is still a significant issue with the long-term viability of donor-funded projects in terms of accomplishing their goals and being completed on schedule and under budget. Using Resource Dependence Theory, Empowerment Theory, and The Stakeholder Theory as a framework, this study analyzed the impact that community involvement has on the long-term viability of World Vision's donor-funded initiatives to improve residents' entrepreneurial skills in the Soweto slums of Nairobi County. The specific objectives of the study were, to assess the influence of community involvement in project selection, community participation in project decision making, community participation in project execution and community involvement in project monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of donor funded entrepreneurial skills development projects in Soweto slums, Kenya. The explanatory research method was used in this investigation. Target population for the study consisted of the 300 youth beneficiaries of Youth Livelihood Project by World Vision in Soweto slums. Sample size of 171 youth beneficiaries was calculated using Yamane formula. Stratified random sampling was used to select the sample. This study used structured questionnaire to collect data. Before actual data collection, pretesting of the questionnaire was done at Kariobangi to enhance its reliability in collecting viable information. Analysis of data was done through descriptive statistics. Multiple linear regression was used in order to ascertain the interactions that currently exist between the study variables. The results of the study indicated that community involvement in project selection, decision-making, project execution and monitoring and evaluation has a positive and statistically significant influence on the sustainability of World Vision donor funded youth entrepreneurial projects in Soweto Nairobi. The study recommended that the government should collaborate with donors to enhance efficiency in the service delivery to its citizens and to reduce the possibility of duplication of roles and channeling funds to the same project by both the government and the donors. Furthermore, the donors should involve the community to get the views of the community on their existing challenges and the possible solutions to the challenges they are facing.

A company’s liquidity reveals both its degree of financial autonomy against its creditors and the kind and severity of the challenges and crises it is now facing. To what extent this occurs depends on the nature of both current assets and current liabilities. Cash on hand, other assets that may be swiftly converted to cash, profits or losses, the size of debts that will need to be repaid soon, and the availability of new capital via the sale of securities or borrowing all play a role in determining a company's liquidity. The goal of this research was to determine the influence of liquidity management on the financial performance of DT Saccos in Kericho County. The study was guided by liquidity preference theory, Commercial loan theory, and Anticipated Income Theory. The descriptive method was used for this study. Employees of Deposit Taking SACCOs in Kericho County made up the research population. The Ndege Chai SACCO society, Imarisha SACCO society, Kenya highlands SACCO society, Simba Chai SACCO society limited, Green Hill SACCO society limited, and Patnas SACCO society limited were all part of this group. Ten percent served as the study's sample, and a stratified random sampling method was employed to choose the sample. The saccos was used to divide the research population into groups for analysis. Questionnaire were utilized to gather primary data. Descriptive and correlation analysis was used to examine the gathered data. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 21 was used for analysis. The findings revealed that aspects of collateral are considered when issuing loans, and that there is protection of members deposit by SACCO management. The deposit taking SACCO undertake regular budget cash budget and the occurrence of cash shortages had been managed by the SACCOs. The SACCOs have effective loan portfolio management to maximize the lending opportunities and cash management in the Saccos have been considered and measures taken to ensure there is no adverse effect on financial performance. The study also concluded that financial reporting policy, flexible repayment periods are significant as they improve loan repayment. Proper implementation of internal controls is important as they relate to financial performance of the SACCOs. The study recommended that deposit taking SACCOS should implement cash management, credit management and contingency funding management in liquidity management to improve financial performance.

In Kenya the investment banking environment has been rapidly evolving posing a threat to the commercial banks’ operations. The current economic environment in Kenya is faced with the Covid-19 pandemic protocols, advanced technology and increased competition which has been a threat to the continuity of the operation of investment banks. To mitigate the threats, investment banks had adopted contingency planning as a way of improving the continuity of the firms, securing shareholders wealth and preventing likelihood of financial losses as well and creating a positive brand image, in case of occurrence of a risky incident. The primary goal of this study was to examine the impact of contingency planning on business continuity among Kenyan investment banks. The objectives utilized in giving guidance were; to establish the influence of organizational systems on business continuity and to establish the effect of organizational innovative culture on business continuity. This research adopted the environmental dependency theory and resource based theory. A descriptive research design was used. The 22 registered investment banks in Kenya served as the research population. The unit of analysis was 4 senior managers from each investment bank giving a total of 88 respondents. This research used primary data which was gathered through use of questionnaires. To administer the questionnaire, the researcher used Google forms. The data collected was then converted into quantitative format so as to enable analysis using the statistical package for social sciences. The data was analyzed both for descriptive statistics which encompassed mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics that comprised of multiple linear regression and correlation analysis. The study established a significant positive association amongst organizational systems and organizational innovative culture with business continuity among investment banks in Kenya. Regression analysis established that 55.5% of changes in business continuity among investment banks in Kenya were ascribed to the two variables selected in this study. In conclusion, organizational systems and organizational innovative culture are essential in enhancing business continuity. The study recommends that the management of investment banks in Kenya ought to consider enhancing their organizational systems such as recruitment systems, promotion systems and information systems to enhance business continuity. The study also recommends the need for investment banks to consider allowing employees to try new ways of solving job related problems, highly encourage innovation, consider customer information when developing new products and services and be highly flexible in their mode of operation.

Managing the liquidity of an organization is imperative for all businesses; large, small or medium. If an organization fails to manage its liquidity appropriately, there is bound to be cash shortages. As a result, the organization experience issues in settling its debts. No evidence of WCM's positive effect on productivity in Kenyan manufacturing or associated companies has been shown in the existing literature. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis were employed in this study. Information regarding characteristics of a phenomenon or population is what you may expect to find in descriptive studies. Nevertheless, descriptive studies are often conducted before quantitative ones. Stata and Microsoft Excel were used for the analysis. We used a quantitative approach to arrive at our conclusions. Through the use of regression and correlation analysis, we were able to ascertain the nature and extent of the partnership and the bearing of working capital management elements on efficiency indicators. Inventory turnover time was shown to have a positive influence on profitability for this organization, albeit the results were not statistically significant. It follows that the manufacturing and construction sectors' financial results are immune to variations in inventory turnover time. This fits very well with what's been written. Results showed that for NSE-listed manufacturing and associated businesses, the average payment duration had a positive but statistically negligible influence on profitability. This study lends credence to previous studies which found no correlation between payment terms and business outcomes. There was a marginally positive effect on financial outcomes, but it was attributed to the longer average collection time. The findings prove that a company's bottom line is immune to payment collection delays.

Strategic leaders are termed as the focal point for better organizational performance. Strategic leadership promotes the culture of inquiry and allows the employees to learn from their mistakes and failures. Through good leadership, employees can work better thus improve their performance. Determining how strategic leadership impacted employee performance in Kenyan government ministries was the aim of this study. The study, which employed a cross-sectional research approach, concentrated on all 21 government ministries in Kenya. The respondents were in charge of the departments of strategy or human resource management. the department of strategy or human resource management managers provided the study's principal sources of data. Before analysis, the data was carefully examined to make sure it was accurate and comprehensive. Regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the independent variables and dependent variable. The study found out that strategic leadership (strategic direction, organization resource portfolio, strategic planning and forecast, and corporate communication) was a key factor in ensuring employee performance. The results of the regression analysis also showed that the organization resource portfolio has a significant and favorable impact on the employee performance in government ministries, indicating that an increase in the organization resource portfolio will result in an improvement in employee performance. Further research revealed that strategic planning and forecasting significantly affected employee performance in government ministries; as a result, an increase in strategic planning and forecasting would improve employee performance in government ministries while maintaining all other variables constant. In government ministries, an increase in corporate communication would result in higher employee performance while keeping all other variables constant. According to the survey, government ministries should place more emphasis on strategic direction to prevent personnel turnover. The study also recommends that government ministries should have more organized ways of handling government resources. Strategic planning and forecasting should be streamlined to ensure up to date approaches are used. Communication flow should be improved for better employee performance in the ministries. This study only looked at three factors on strategic leadership, that is, strategic direction, organization resource portfolio, strategic planning and corporate communication

Banks in Kenya have made significant investments in corporate governance to tackle issues about competition, income and cost. At the same time, the number of nonperforming loans held by commercial banks has increased. The critical question is whether corporate governance practices have been effective in enhancing the asset quality of banks. Given that corporate governance structures costs money, it is critical to investigate the link between growing NPLs and corporate governance. This study sought to investigate how corporate governance affects asset quality among commercial banks in Kenya. The Corporate governance indicators were board size, gender diversity and board independence. Bank liquidity, capital adequacy and bank size were the control variables while the dependent variable was asset quality, measured as the ratio of NPLs to total loans. The study was guided by agency theory, stakeholder theory and stewardship theory. Descriptive research design was utilized in this research. The 40 commercial banks in Kenya as at December 2021 served as target population. The study collected secondary data for five years (2017-2021) on an annual basis from CBK and individual banks annual reports. Descriptive, correlation as well as regression analysis were undertaken and outcomes offered in tables followed by pertinent interpretation and discussion. The research findings yielded a 0.530 R square (R2) value implying that 53% of changes in banks’ asset quality can be described by the six variables chosen for this research. The multivariate regression analysis further revealed that individually, board size has a negative and significant effect on asset quality of banks (β= -0.141, p=0.001). Board independence also has a negative and significant effect on asset quality (β= -0.310, p=0.000) while gender diversity exhibited negative but not statistically significant influence on asset quality (β= -0.030, p=0.116). Both bank size and bank liquidity have a negative effect on asset quality of banks as shown by (β= -0.927, p=0.000) and (β= -0.287, p=0.000) respectively. Capital adequacy exhibited a negative but not significant influence on asset quality as shown by (β= -0.036, p=0.103). The study recommends the need for banks to have adequate board members as this reduces the level of NPLs in a bank. The study further recommends the need to have an independent board as this also enhances asset quality by providing a better monitoring mechanism. Future research ought to focus on other financial institutions in Kenya to corroborate or refute the conclusions of this research.

The provision of basic services, secure and cheap housing, and the modernization of slums are the main objectives of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) number 11. Since 1950, the number and scope of national development plans have increased at a rate that is commensurate with the emergence of African national movements and the achievement of independence. Almost all African states consider a plan like this to be one of the fundamental aspects of sovereignty. According to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) tracker, as of 2018, about 50% of urban residents resided in slum neighborhoods. Narok County, Kenya, had a population of 1,158,000 people as of the 2019 census, which puts pressure on land and increases the need for affordable housing. The study sought to determine how the County Integrated Development Plan affects the implementation of affordable housing projects in Narok North constituency, Narok County, Kenya. Since the adoption of the Narok County Integrated Development plan in 2012 there has been a need to access several dimensions of the plan and to what extent it has contributed to the development of affordable housing. The study focused on the following four goals: to determine the influence of the County Annual Plan on implementation of the affordable housing projects in Narok North constituency, to assess the influence of the County Sectoral Plan on implementation of the affordable housing projects in Narok North constituency, and to establish the influence of the County Municipal Plan on implementation of affordable housing project in Narok North constituency and influence of County Spatial Plan on implementation of affordable housing projects in Narok North constituency. Wagner's theory, the theory of project implementation and systems theory served as the study's pillars. Study may enable project managers establish effective plans for project implementation and completion, it might assist government in developing effective affordable housing policies, and it can also help the residents of Narok County to actively participate in the provision of affordable housing and also may allow further research to other scholars in related areas. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and quantitative data was collected through a structured questionnaire and qualitative data using a key informant interview guide. The study also adopted a stratified random sampling targeting 1,150 representing Narok county government departmental employees and tenants occupying housing units provided by the county government. The sample size was determined using the Slovene formula to generate a sample size of 296 respondent. Each of the two strata representing Narok county departmental employees and tenants comprised of 257 and 39 respondents respectively. After approval of the research project proposal, the necessary licenses and documentation were gathered to assist in data collection. The conclusion of the study showed a positive relation between the County Annual Plan, County Sectoral Plan, County Spatial Plan and County Municipal plan in relation to the implementation of affordable housing projects in Narok North constituency. Municipal plan showed a more positive significant impact on the implementation of affordable housing projects. The study recommended a comparative analysis of the Nairobi CIDP as a benchmark to other counties, assessment of challenges affecting county government management and the impact on the implementation of affordable housing projects in Kenya.