Entrepreneurship Programmes in Developing Countries: A Meta Regression Analysis

Population: Youth, those in higher education, and the urban population are more likely to experience a positive impact from entrepreneurship programmes, meanwhile microcredit clients experience fewer benefits than the general population. Women appear to benefit most from financing support, but do not significantly benefit from entrepreneurship programmes. Existing entrepreneurs benefit from business training by improving business knowledge, but this has not been shown to translate into better business performance. Intervention Delivery: Private-sector and NGO delivery is more likely to lead to programme success than those delivered by banks or microfinance institutions. Training programmes are associated with greater impact in the short-term, while financing programmes seem to work better in the long-term. Intervention Type: Among programmes with a training component, vocational training is most likely to lead to programme success, particularly when combined with either counselling or financing services. General business training, alone or in combination with mentoring/counselling, is more effective than financial training, which offers the least benefits. Adding financing support to business training does not seem to improve effectiveness. Among financing interventions, cash and in-kind transfer programmes with training components have greater impacts than microcredit. Adding training components to microfinance is not associated with greater impact. Financing alone can improve business performance, while training alone can improve business knowledge and practice. A combination of the two is most effective in promoting labour-market outcomes.