Proactive Strategies and The Performance of Youth-Owned Enterprises in The Lake Region Economic Bloc, Kenya

Purpose: Youth-owned enterprises (YOEs) are widely recognized as engines of job creation, poverty reduction, and inclusive economic growth, yet a large proportion fail within their first few years of operation, particularly in resource-constrained regions such as Kenya's Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB). This study sought to establish the effect of proactive strategies on the performance of youth-owned enterprises in the LREB, Kenya. Methodology: The study was anchored on the Entrepreneurial Theory of the Firm. A concurrent embedded mixed-methods design, guided by a pragmatist research philosophy, was adopted, targeting 71,890 registered youth-owned enterprises drawn from the trade, manufacturing, services, and agriculture sectors in Busia, Kakamega, Kisumu, Homa Bay, and Kisii counties. Using Cochran's (1977) formula, a sample of 382 respondents, comprising 352 enterprise owners and 30 key informants, was drawn through stratified random sampling complemented by purposive sampling of key informants. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and an interview guide, whose validity and reliability were confirmed through a pilot study involving 38 youth enterprise owners in Nairobi. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS through descriptive and inferential statistics, while diagnostic tests for outliers, normality, and multicollinearity were conducted before regression analysis. Findings: Proactive strategies were found to have a strong, positive, and statistically significant correlation with the performance of youth-owned enterprises. The study concluded that proactive strategies, particularly early risk anticipation, mentorship-seeking, and continuous market adaptation, significantly enhance the performance of youth-owned enterprises in the LREB. Unique Contribution to Theory Practice and Policy: The study recommended that development partners, non-governmental organizations, and county governments institutionalize capacity-building programmes on digital trend forecasting, market scanning, and early-implementation skills to strengthen proactive behaviour among youth entrepreneurs.