CONTRIBUTION OF INDIGENOUS ENTREPRENEURSHIP, POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION AND GLOBALIZATION DYNAMICS TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN TURKANA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Livestock trade is key to Turkanas’ economic development and the presence of conflict
as well as global influence cannot be underrated. Although research on the contribution
of entrepreneurship to economic development has widely been conducted, evidence on
whether entrepreneurship really matters for economic development is not clearly
established. The goal of this research is to determine the contribution of indigenous
entrepreneurship among micro and small livestock enterprises, post-conflict
reconstruction and globalization dynamics to economic development in Turkana
County. The anchoring theories are; institutional, entrepreneurial bricolage,
effectuation and endogenous growth. Positivist philosophical orientation was adopted
and a descriptive cross-sectional research design. The County Livestock Marketing
Council provided a list of 598 livestock firms which formed the basis of selecting a
sample size of 339 Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs). To analyze collected data,
inferential and descriptive statistical analysis were applied. The study findings revealed
significant joint influence of indigenous entrepreneurship among micro and small
livestock enterprises, post-conflict reconstruction and globalization dynamics on
economic development in Turkana county, (F=59.4, P=0.000). The joint effect was
different from the individual effects and jointly, the three variables have a greater
influence on economic development than individually. The study recommends that
economic development in indigenous communities must be built on entrepreneurial
enterprises or activities of these people and their products. The study suggests that there
is need for management in these micro and small livestock enterprises in Turkana
County to consider saving with the financial institutions in order to secure larger loans
to inject and boost their businesses as well as sourcing of other external markets for
their products as this may earn them more income.
Key Words: Indigenous entrepreneurship, post-conflict reconstruction, globalization
dynamics, economic development, micro and small livestock enterprises