Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of procurement practices by the county government in supporting SMES’ growth in Samburu CountyMethodologyThe research followed a descriptive design. The target population was be made up of 2,546 SME owners and 15 Government officers. The research used a sample of 255 SME owners and 15 government officials chosen using simple random sampling technique and purposive sampling technique respectively. The researcher collected data using questionnaires and schedules for interviews. The study undertook a pre-test study in Samburu County using 26 SME owners (10 percent of the study) that were not in the sampled size of the study. The 26 SME owners were selected by simple random method. The study also interviewed 3 county government officer’s secretaries in charge of SMEs in Samburu County selected by purposive sampling method. Measures were put in place for ensuring that pre-test study’s owners of SMEs were not included in the study in actual data collection. The main study was able to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Using descriptive analysis, the quality data obtained from open-ended questions was analyzed. Quantitative data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, and means; and inferential statistics such as Pearson Correlation and Regression Processing, using SPSS Version 24.Results: There was a positive significant relationship between procurement practices and growth performance of SMEs. This implies that procurement practices support from the county government had a significant impact towards contribution on the growth of their businesses over the last three years. R value was .801 while R-square value was .642. This was explained that procurement practices predicted 64.2 percent of growth performance variable. Procurement practices had a β=0.098 and a p-value=0.001.Unique contribution to theory, policy and practice: The study gathered from procurement practices variable that in Samburu county, the government had allowed an open access for SMEs to contract opportunities. SMEs owners however complained on limited efforts facilitated through county government to make sure that SMEs remained competitive as compared to other types of businesses. The study therefore recommended that providing access to contract would be more useful to SMEs owners if they had knowledge on how to place bids to stand a chance in winning the contracts hence more training was offered. There should be more public awareness on availability of these resources especially county government tenders. The study recommended also that county government should conduct more research on potential markets where SMEs owners can supply products to earn more profits.