Please use this form to submit your study for inclusion into our database. It will be checked by a member of the Innovation Growth Lab team, who may be in contact to ask for more information. Your email address * Your name * Title * The name of the study Short summary This study conducted two randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effect of mindset-oriented business trainings on the performance of women-owned micro and small enterprises in Ethiopia. A brief description of the project's goals and its current state Abstract <p>Is there a mindset gap holding women back in business? Can entrepreneurship training instill a set of attitudes, behaviors, and strategies that are thought to underpin success in business such as motivation, perseverance, and self-confidence? This study conducted two randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effect of mindset-oriented business trainings on the performance of women-owned micro and small enterprises in Ethiopia. The trainings were underpinned by psychology with a mission to foster self-esteem and entrepreneurial spirit. Despite a similar approach, however, the quality of delivery seemed to matter as impacts of the trainings on business performance were mixed. A key channel for an impact on profits is if the training can actually effectuate the mindset change, with only one training transferring higher levels of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, personal initiative, and entrepreneurial locus of control to the women, relative to a control group. The study finds suggestive evidence that psychological skills and mindset are better inspired by a trainer who previously owned a business themselves and therefore may have a better understanding of the entrepreneurs'specific challenges. The study concludes that psychological skills are important for women's business success, and these skills can indeed be transferred using training, assuming a shared identity match between trainer and student. Service delivery appears to be critical for inculcating these important skills.</p> The full abstract of the study, if available Links https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/8892.html Links to any published papers and related discussions Authors * Affiliations Academic and other institutes that the authors of the study are members of Delivery partner Organisations involved in delivering the trial, if appropriate Year Year Year199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026 Month MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec Day Day12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 Journal Journal publishing the study, if available Publication stage * Working Paper Published Ongoing Research Forthcoming Discussion Paper Research theme * Entrepreneurship Innovation Business Growth Country Country or countries where this study took place. Topics What sort of topics does the study cover? Sample attributes Hypotheses / research question Can entrepreneurship training instill a set of attitudes, behaviors, and strategies that are thought to underpinsuccess in business such as motivation, perseverance, and self-confidence? Sample Trial population and sample selection Urban and growth-oriented women entrepreneurs. Average age of participants is 36 and about 86% have completed secondary or tertiary education. The average age of the business they run is 6 years. Average number of employees is about four. The main sectors that businesses operate in are retail (50%), food and drink services (20%) and beauty salons (7%). Number of treatment groups Size of treatment groups Size of control group Unit of analysis Clustered? Yes No Cluster details Trial attributes Treatment description A 40 hours training consisting of ten four-hour sessions offered to participants for free. The training is delivered by Technical and Vocational Education Training colleges teachers, most of which do not have entrepreneurial experience themselves. Firms are offered personal initiative training and traditional business training. Personal initiative training: entrepreneurs are trained on how to actively approach their environment, think about longer-term horizons, overcome barriers and deal with failure. It includes the presentation of action-ready principles, practical exercises and feedback from the trainer and peers. At the end of the training, participants develop a personal project that facilitates the transfer of the mindset and skills developed during the training to their own business. Traditional business training: a holistic training that predominantly teaches traditional business skills like financial literacy, marketing, production and workplace management, purchasing and bookkeeping, business plan development, and legal rights and regulations. It also uses psychological elements to develop a creative mindset on entrepreneurs and a module on gender-related challenges faced by women entrepreneurs that teaches coping mechanisms. Rounds of data collection Baseline data collection and method For the group with the intermediate level of mindset training, the baseline questionnaire contained a set of questions on household demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, business sales, profits, costs, employees, entrepreneurial profile (e.g., age, place of birth, education level), and questions designed to elicit an entrepreneur's business knowledge and level of financial literacy. For both the groups with high and low levels of mindset training, the baseline data collection was conducted through interviews, done on a rolling basis before the entrepreneurs attended a training batch. Data collection method and data collected Evaluation Outcome variables <p>Psychological outcomes (e.g. personal initiative, self-efficacy, error competence, entrepreneurial identity and locus of control) and business practices.</p> Results <p>One year and a half after the training, none of the training schemes led to higher business knowledge nor to a more proactive mindset among trainees, compared to those that did not receive any training. None of the training had an impact on the adoption of recommended business practices, nor on business performance in terms of survival, employment, revenue or profits.</p> Intervention costs The trainings in Ethiopia were around US$30 per person. Cost benefit ratio Reference Alibhai, S., Buehren, N., Frese, M., Goldstein, M., Papineni, S., & Wolf, K., 2019. Full esteem ahead? Mindset-oriented business training in Ethiopia. Mindset-Oriented Business Training in Ethiopia (June 17, 2019). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, (8892). 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