| dc.description.abstract | The challenges associated with youth employment and participation in economic development has
been a key concern world over, especially in developing economies. The youths in Kenya are specifically looked
at because of the pivotal role that they play in the Kenyan economy and the emphasis the government has put on
youth empowerment programs to enable them to improve their financial welfare and participate in economic
development as a way of achieving the tenets of Vision 2030. The government through the youth enterprise fund
has invested heavily in providing seed capital for youth willing to start their own businesses. The Nairobi
securities exchange provides lucrative investment opportunities following the revolutionalization that has taken
place in the market. However, the number of youth investing through it is still low. The CMA has also made
significant efforts in enhancing access to market information by creating online platforms as well as the use of
mobile phones and training programs for youth in universities and tertiary institutions. However there is a high
population of youth staying in rural and urban areas organized into youth groups supported by government with
seed capital programs such as the youth enterprise fund who may not have been reached out by these programs.
This study therefore sought to analyze the investment patterns and the influence of market information on the
youth’s decisions to invest through the NSE focusing on youth groups in Kisumu County. The study targeted the
chairpersons of the youth groups or their representatives who were knowledgeable on the group investment
strategies. The target population therefore was 380 chairpersons of youth groups from which a sample of 79
chairpersons was selected using stratified and random sampling method. Secondary data was obtained from the
Youth Enterprise Fund, Nyanza Region for the four constituencies in Kisumu County while primary data was
collected using questionnaires administered to the chair persons. The data collected was analyzed using
descriptive statistics which included: mean, mode, frequencies and percentages while the relationships between
market factors were determined using the t-statistics for two independence samples. The study revealed that
market information had statistically significantly influence youth’s decisions to invest through the Nairobi
Securities Exchange. The study therefore recommended that the Capital Markets Authority in Kenya should link
the youth to platforms for accessing real-time capital markets data as well as empower them on how to use the
data in making investment decisions. | en_US |
