Micro-credit services target low income clients who lack access to banking and related services. The study sought to establish the influence of micro-credit services on financial performance of women-owned enterprises in Eldoret. The financial performance measures were the net profit, current, inventory and times interest earned ratio. Based on the research, this paper discusses the influence of financial support services on the financial performance of women-owned enterprises which are funded through micro-credit. The study targeted a population of 1721 which constituted of women who owned enterprises and were registered with the county government of Uasin Gishu County. Study samples were drawn through purposive random sampling. A sample size of 313 was obtained using the Krejcie and Morgan formula. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to present and analyse the data obtained. Data was then presented in form of tables, and explanations provided. There results showed that there was no significant influence of financial support services on financial performance of women-owned enterprise (p=0.00). From the study, it was observed that the financial performance of the women-owned enterprises in Eldoret improved due to the increase in the net profit, current, inventory turnover and times interest earned ratio. The study concluded that multiple loan products and favourable loan terms helps boost the financial performance of women owned enterprise. The study recommended that microfinance institutions should restructure the collateral and interest requirements by the women entrepreneurs by using credit scoring and business history as alternatives to asset-based security. This paper underscores the need to carry out more research on factors affecting women-owned enterprise in other areas of similar socio-economic patterns to ascertain whether or not financial support services have had a positive impact on the financial performance of women-owned enterprises. Moreover, a study should be conducted on the influence of micro-finance lending on financial performance of women-owned enterprises in Eldoret town.
Keywords: Eldoret, Financial Performance, Financial Support Services, Influence, Kenya, Women-Owned Enterprises
