In rural Kenya, women face many challenges to be involved in businesses that are customarily regarded as men’s domain. However, many women persevere and engage in businesses. This paper examines some salient factors that drove these rural women into entrepreneurship in Kakamega County, Kenya. To clarify these factors we administered the questionnaire survey among 153 rural women entrepreneurs in Kakamega County. About 98% of the respondents agreed that they were motivated to start business not only to be financially independent and support their families but also to earn respect and trust from their husbands and others. We also found that about 97% of the respondents were motivated to start business because they wanted to own property. The Luhya, the majority ethnic group in Kakamega, traditionally restrict their women from inheriting property, but we found that Luhya women could actually maneuver this custom to acquire land, houses, cars and other properties under the name of business entity or through social networking activities. About 84% of the respondents either strongly agreed or agreed that they started business for networking and socializing. Social groups at the market place provided a platform for them to share their family experiences and learn from each other about business opportunities.