Does mobile money services have any impact on smes perfomance in naivasha?

Background: Mobile money has seen a rapid growth with dramatic increase in customer subscriptions. Launched in Kenya in the year 2007, the total subscriptions by the year 2012 reached 18.4 million subscribers according to Communications Commission of Kenya report (2011/2012). Services offered through the mobile money platform presents business transactional opportunities that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can adopt since their needs are not always well served by conventional banking system. Objectives: The objectives of this study are; to establish the current awareness amongst SMEs of various mobile money services, the range of mobile money services preferred, how use of mobile money has impacted on business and how they have dealt with challenges resulting from use of mobile money. Methods: A cross-sectional study majorly explorative in nature was conducted in Naivasha Municipality town. A five-Likert scale questionnaire tool was administered. Probability sampling method was used and the sample size was 113 respondents. Results: Total of 113 business owners in Naivasha town were interviewed, most of whom were female respondents (67%). 16% of the businesses surveyed, were partnerships but majority of the businesses were sole proprietorships topping the list at 85%. 99% of the respondents had perfect information on most mobile money transactions. A significant 90% and 73% respectively asserted that mobile money was very important for sending money and receiving money respectively but was less important in other mobile money transactions in relation to business activities in Naivasha town. For those using mobile money services for specific mobile money related business transactions, 95% rated those services as important to the business. Mobile money service transactional cost was rated as expensive, but business owners confirmed that those services positively the contributed to their business growth. There was a positive correlation between SME performance and Efficiency and Reliability with a correlation of 0.435 Conclusions: The study found that mobile money had made a significant contribution to the SME sector since majority of the traders relied on it as opposed to the formal banking sector for their day to day transactions. Secondly, it was evident that all the respondents in this study have deep understanding of how the basic functions of mobile money.