An excellent performance in terms of output or profitability is one of the major goals of any firm. In order to achieve this, firms use various inputs such as financial resources (capital), human resources (labor force), technology among others. Demographic factors such as gender, education level and age also play a key role. The current study investigated the impact of these demographic and social factors on performance of business firms in Kenya using data from MSME 2016 survey, which was conducted by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in 2016. Firm performance was measured by average monthly revenue, which is equivalent to the value of the firm's maximized output. The factors investigated include education level, gender and age of the firm. In addition to these factors, the study also investigated the effect of labor force, capital and firm's ownership structure on performance. Ordinary least squares technique and descriptive statistics were used. The study found that education level and age of the firm have a positive effect on performance. Firms operated by males were found to have a better performance than those operated by females. In addition, the study found that partnerships, cooperatives and companies (both private and public limited) perform better than family owned business firms did. (JEL D21, D22, D24, M21).
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