Is information a problem in the Micro and Small Enterprise (MSE) sector? If so, does the empowerment of MSEs necessarily come through information and communication technology? To address these questions, this study uses firm-level cross sectional data from manufacturing MSEs from selected sites in Nairobi, Kenya. Empirical analysis reveals considerable information gaps in the sector. The paucity of formal organizations and inaccessibility of small-scale entrepreneurs to market networks often drive them towards informal networks. Further evidence indicates that access to electricity and telephone is poor. Internet penetration rates are still low and there is a feeling among some respondents (about 40 percent) that IT was not useful. This was taken to imply that apart from the traditional factors 1 that have marginalized the MSE sector, the entrepreneurs perceive further marginalization by the more modern and sophisticated technologies. Although IT is important, there are other more critical constraints to information flow that deserve priority. The success of ICT projects will depend not only on how they address these constraints but also on how they complement the local institutions and social networks that permeate the sector. Public policy should mainstream small informal enterprises to enable them to interface with formal support institutions and should encourage the establishment of local information centers.1 Such traditional factors include credit, skills, infrastructure, markets and so on.

This study examines the relationship between financial development and economic growth. It presents evidence on a cross section of 50 African countries whose data is available for the period 1980-2008. Two proxies of financial development are employed: the ratio of credit to the private sector to total GDP and the ratio of broad money (M2) to total GDP. We establish a positive relationship between financial development and economic growth. However, we find that the relationship between private sector credit and economic growth is much stronger than the relationship between money supply and economic growth. In addition, we find that the relationship between financial sector development and economic growth is bi-directional. The results suggest that both the financial sector and the real sector are important in influencing Africa's current and future growth trajectory.

This study examines the effect of mobile technologies on the choice of selfemployment in Kenya. The study used the 2016 household FinAccess retail survey data, which was collected using stratified multi-stage sampling to ensure representativeness at the national, regional, and residence (urban vs rural) levels. A probit model was used to analyse the data. The study finds that mobile phones, mobile money, mobile banking, and mobile credit influence one's decision to become self-employed. Other contributing factors include age, gender, marital status, education, wealth, place of residence, and the number of dependents in the household. These findings suggest that entrepreneurship policy in Kenya will have greater impact by enhancing access to mobile technologies.

Policy makers in Kenya expect micro and small enterprises to provide the bulk of new jobs created in the economy yet these enterprises face significant credit constraints. This study applied regression analysis to establish the link between the credit constraint and employment growth of small enterprises in Kenya. The results failed to confirm any important role for the credit constraint in limiting small firm employment growth. However, the credit constraint variable posted significant results when interacted with other variables such as access to workspace, access to technology and formality status of the enterprise. This was interpreted to mean that the marginal effect of the credit constraint on firm growth mainly depended on access to workspace, access to technology and formality status. This leads to the conclusion that the current emphasis on credit alone and the minimalist paradigm need to be re-evaluated.

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