10th U6+ Consortium of African Universities International Conference

Mental health and wellbeing have become a concern for university students in Kenya. Cases of anxiety, depression and social distress have been reported comprising 30% of the challenges. Academic pressure, financial hardship, and limited coping mechanisms are cited as the main culprits. Traditional support structures such as religious institutions have diminished in influence, creating a gap...

The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping industries, and auditing is no exception. This study explores the impact of AI on audit processes, focusing on its benefits, challenges, and implications for the profession. Leveraging AI technologies including machine learning and data analytics, auditors can enhance efficiency, accuracy, and risk assessment. However,...

Graduate unemployment remains one of the most pressing socio-economic challenges in Kenya despite the widespread integration of internship programmes into university curricula as a strategy for enhancing graduates' workplace readiness. Although internships are intended to facilitate the acquisition of practical competencies, the extent to which the quality of internship programmes contributes...

Kenya’s athletics has achieved global recognition, yet para-athletes remain underrepresented in sponsorships, branding, and visibility. This study examines the relationship between federation structure and athlete marketing support, focusing on implications for para-athlete inclusion. Guided by the Sports Policy Leading to International Sporting Success (SPLISS) framework and organizational...

Digital transformation has contributed to significant changes in business processes, and the resulting agility seems to be a critical success factor for competitiveness and innovativeness. When adopting disruptive digital solutions, organizations expect agility to play a significant role. Recently, technological transformations have generated increasing interest, and some research studies have...

The Fifth Industrial Revolution emphasizes human-centered, inclusive, and intelligent systems that integrate advanced technologies with human experience. In hospitality, smart systems powered by artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and automation are reshaping service delivery within digital service ecosystems. This study examines the influence of service accuracy in AI-enabled...

Digital credit markets in East Africa have expanded rapidly, driving financial inclusion for thin-file borrowers via mobile money ecosystems. Conventional credit scoring relies heavily on correlation-based machine learning, which propagates structural biases, conflates spurious associations with actual default drivers, and fails systematically during macroeconomic volatility. This paper...

The study explores the entrepreneurial ecosystem of underdog entrepreneurs in Kibera informal settlements in Kenya to determine the enablers of their entrepreneurial success. The study is based on a case study research design, deriving data from 50 participants using semi-structured in-depth interviews as the research instrument. The study reveals that voluntary savings and loaning groups...

Farm input distribution companies in Kenya play a vital role in supporting agricultural productivity and food security, yet many continue to experience declining competitiveness characterized by stagnant market share, weak customer retention, and limited product innovation. Product development strategy has increasingly emerged as a critical growth strategy for enhancing competitive advantage...

Abstract
This study examines the influence of public sector regulatory frameworks on the strategic competitiveness of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in South Africa. The research is motivated by growing concerns that regulatory environments, while intended to ensure accountability and governance, may inadvertently constrain the performance and competitiveness of SOEs. A quantitative research...

Introduction: Small businesses operate within increasingly volatile financial environments marked by constrained access to capital, rising input costs, and intensified market competition. Financial transformation encompassing digital financial management, restructuring of capital allocation, and strategic reinvestment has emerged as a critical lever for enhancing competitiveness and long-term...

Background: Sport marketing has come up to be an important tool for improving sports
development worldwide, especially in developing nations as in Nigeria where inadequate
funding limits infrastructure growth. Purpose of Study: This study examined sports marketing
as mobiliser for basketball facility development in Nigeria and also analyzed the influence of
marketing components such as...

Environmental accountability and protection has gained traction in the recent past. Sustainable waste management has become the point of interest for many stakeholders. Different jurisdictions have developed regulations on waste management to safeguard the planet and future generations. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has emerged as the center of policy debate around the world, as it is...

The Fifth Industrial Revolution (5IR) reopens a longstanding management question in a new
technological setting: how can firms employ new technologies while preserving the social and
institutional foundations on which productive activity depends? For African economies, the
spread of digital tools is only one part of the answer. Their value depends on how far they can be
joined to knowledge...

Casualization has become the most prevalent and persistent issues in the Nigeria academic
industries existing in both federal and state tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The high rates of
casualization of Academic and Non-Academic staff in the Nigeria universities has raised a
serious concern about the employee wellbeing and productivity. Therefore, this study focus to x-
ray the casual...

Understanding how distinct work-ethics orientations translate into improved organisational performance is especially important in public institutions, where service quality depends not only on formal duties but also on employees' discretionary conduct. This study examined the direct and indirect effects of Islamic work ethics (IWE) and conventional work ethics (CWE) on organisational...

Numerous studies have been conducted on different themes on the economy of Ilorin in the precolonial, colonial and post-colonial periods. The contributions of the trade in second-hand commodities to the development of human lives in the present Nigerian economic realities are phenomenal. Despite the stigma and other challenges associated with the trade in used commodities, the trade in Ilorin...

The objective of the study was to determine the effect of reverse logistics on Performance of Registered Supermarkets in Kenya. The study was anchored on Circular Economy theory. This study adopted descriptive and correlational research designs. The pragmatism research philosophy was adopted. The unit of analysis was the 31 supermarkets registered by the Retail Trade Association of Kenya. The...

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a pivotal role in the economic development of Kenya owing to their contribution to employment creation, income generation and economic growth. However, many SMEs still have a high failure rate, which is linked to poor financial risk management practices, which is often attributed to low financial literacy of the SME owners. The research was an...

This study evaluates the sustainability of Kenya’s public debt within the framework of the 2026 Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS), which guides fiscal policy for the FY 2026/27–2028/29 period. As of March 2026, Kenya’s public debt stands at KSh 12.83 trillion, equivalent to 70.2% of GDP, necessitating a strategic pivot toward fiscal consolidation. The 2026 MTDS mandates a shift in...

Digital transformation and financial technology (FinTech) are increasingly being considered as key to inclusive and sustainable development, especially in the emerging economies where access to the traditional financial systems has been low. Although there is an increasing interest in digital finance, there is scanty empirical data on the interaction between digital transformation and FinTech...

Small businesses in the Western Cape operate within structurally constrained and volatile market conditions, where reinvestment decisions are pivotal to sustaining competitiveness and long-term viability. Despite its strategic importance, reinvestment behaviour remains inconsistently applied and theoretically underdeveloped in small business literature. Prevailing frameworks tend to assume...