13th Annual International Management Conference Proceeding

and food processing, reinvestments, networking, access to new markets, action planning and record keeping. Most
outstanding was the business-like approach to farming and adoption to farming by Maasais who are traditionally
pastoralists.
All participants experienced increased income/profits ranging from 20% to 60% and better living standards.
However, most changes were noted among the Kikuyus than was the case with Maasais. This was both in intensity and
variety, and performance. Whereas average performance improvement was 40% among Kikuyus in both provinces,
performance improvement among Maasais was an average of 25%. Among the Kikuyus, 30% of the participants had
installed solar power, which they used for lighting, as well as powering their electronic gadgets. The study revealed an
improved standard of living across participants in the two provinces: they ate quality and variety foods, were able to
dress better, take their children to school, cater for extended family members and engaged in socio-economic
development activities which involved contributing to community’s development activities such as churches and
schools.
Most striking was the zeal with which the Narok District participants had taken to crop farming as a major activity as
opposed to their cultural animal rearing practice. These farmers were found to be trendsetters as some other members
of the community were beginning to embrace crop farming too. This is a clear demonstration of what the training can
do in changing attitudes to long held unproductive cultural beliefs and practices. For instance, due to the training, one
of the participants foresaw approaching drought and sold his animals to avoid loosing them during the dry spell
despite the great opposition from his father. He indicated that he had banked all the money to restock when the
weather was more conducive, an indication of pro-activeness and the ability to make informed decisions. Another
participant was under pressure to marry another wife because he had become wealthy according to Maasai standards,
but he could not give in to the pressure. Instead, he had opened a savings bank account for future expansion and
school fees for his children.
The study also revealed that the participants were able to determine the performance of their entrepreneurial activities
from proper records, which they kept. Before the training, they never kept any meaningful records of the expenditures
and incomes and therefore, could not know when they were making profits or losses. Further, they had some form of
action plans, which they used to guide their entrepreneurial activities and they were found to have adhered to them.
This is an indication of good management practices at work.
A number of personal and environmental factors were found to have influenced the application of the KSAs acquired.
They included long draught especially in Rift Valley Province, which was worst hit, with most respondents especially
in Narok District experiencing serious animal feed shortage, which led to family separation, with some taking the
animals to distant lands in search of pasture, while others lost their livestock to the drought. Marketing of farm
produce was another challenge the participants encountered as they lacked the ability to market their produce directly
to the end user and therefore, had to use middlemen despite being aware of their exploitative tendencies. This was
made worse by the huge transportation costs as well as the poor road infrastructure, especially in Narok District, where
people walked long distances, as far as fifty (50) kilometres to reach the nearest market. The researchers too had this
same experience: while conducting the study in the district, they had to drive through the jungle and undefined roads
to reach the respondents. Inadequate credit access and availability also affected effective application of the KSAs
acquired. However, on the contrary, the study revealed that most participants used community micro-finance
programmes and reinvesting of profits as major financing strategies. Whereas the training may not have had credit
linkage, it had enhanced the trainees’ capacity to source for investment credit because they were more confident and
focused in what they were doing.
Variations in the levels of entrepreneurial behaviour manifested themselves in the entrepreneurial and management
practices among respondents from the two provinces. One major reason explains this: in Kenya, Kikuyus are known to
be hardworking and successful business people with many role models unlike the Maasais. This was true to the study.
The Kikuyus were more organized and practiced modern business management practices such as keeping proper
records, action planning, new and improved varieties in farming, diversified business activities such as merchandising,
sub-contracting, networking, working in groups, direct marketing, pro-activeness and focus on business growth, all
practiced to a very limited scale among Maasais.
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