Kelu, Joshua K.2026-06-292025https://repository.kcau.ac.ke/handle/123456789/1188Researchers and scholars have concluded that Small and medium-scale agribusiness enterprises (Agribusiness SMEs) play a crucial role in driving food security and economic growth, both in developed and developing economies. However, the growth of Agribusiness SMEs in developing countries, especially Africa, faces significant hurdles due to finance-related challenges, among other challenges. This study aimed to investigate the effect of financial development initiatives on the growth of Agribusiness SMEs in Machakos County. The study’s specific objectives were: to investigate the effect of access to finance, pooling and mobilization of savings and capital allocation on the growth of agribusiness SMEs in Machakos County. The study was guided by the credit rationing theory, the neo-classical theory of a firm and the financial intermediation theory. The study’s target population consisted of all the 7,882 licenced agribusiness SMEs in Machakos County. Data was collected from a sample of 380 agribusiness SMEs owners or managers. Data was collected using structured questionnaires. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse the demographic characteristics of the respondents and their perspectives regarding financial development initiatives and the growth of their enterprises. Correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. Regression analysis was used to determine the effect of independent variables on the dependent variable. From the analysis, access to credit had a strong positive correlation with growth (r = 0.549, p < 0.001). Similarly, mobilizing and pooling of savings also showed a strong positive correlation with growth (r = 0.527, p < 0.001). Further, allocation of capital was moderately and positively correlated with growth (r = 0.348, p < 0.001). Regression analysis yielded a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.470 which indicated that approximately 47% of the variation in the growth of the small and medium agribusiness enterprises in Machakos County can be explained by access to credit, mobilizing and pooling of savings and allocation of capital. Access to credit had the highest coefficient of B = 0.234 and p = 0.000. Mobilization and pooling of savings also had statistically significant effect on the growth of the small and medium agribusiness enterprises in Machakos County (B = 0.208, β = 0.380, p = 0.000). Allocation of capital had the smallest but still significant effect on the growth of small and medium agribusiness enterprises in Machakos County (B = 0.111, p = 0.003). The study concluded that access to credit, mobilizing and pooling of savings and allocation of capital had effect on the growth of the SMEs in the agribusiness sector. The financial institutions are therefore recommended to develop flexible and inclusive credit models that minimize reliance on traditional collateral in order to improve accessibility. The government and non-government actors are recommended to strengthen cooperative societies and village savings groups to support the pooling of resources among agribusiness SMEs. The financial institutions and support organizations are recommended to increase efforts to offer the business owners and managers targeted financial literacy programs on budgeting, capital investment planning, and working capital management. There is a need for other studies to focus on small and medium agribusiness enterprises in other regions in Kenya as well as SMEs in other sector, since the study only focused on agribusiness enterprises in Machakos County.enAgribusiness SMEsFinancial development initiativesGrowth of SMEsSMEsThesis