Factors affecting the demand for insurance among licenced Women-owned Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (WMSMES) in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

This study applied a gender lens to determine the factors affecting the demand for insurance among licensed Women-owned MSMEs (WMSMEs) in Nairobi County. WMSMEs play an important role in contributing to the economic growth of the country and improving the welfare of society at large. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect primary quantitative data from a random sample of 398 licensed WMSMEs in Nairobi County. Using this sample, the researcher used Binary Logistic regression analysis to determine the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The results showed that insurance literacy and insurance product awareness by the WMSME owner, the enterprise ownership structure, price of insurance products and the availability of suitable insurance products had an insignificant effect on the demand for insurance among licensed WMSMEs in Nairobi County. In contrary, WMSME owners who were married had a significant demand for insurance compared to other WMSME owners that identified as unmarried. This study provides insights to stakeholders such as insurers, regulators, the government, development organizations and scholars to put in more effort to support insurance as a robust risk management tool for WMSMEs. KEYWORDS; insurance, micro-insurance, risk management, risks, WMSMEs