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 With millions of women around the developing world thrown into self-employment but with low productivity, increasing the profitability of their businesses is highly relevant for poverty reduction and gender equity. A brief description of the project's goals and its current state Abstract <p>With millions of women around the developing world thrown into self-employment but with low productivity, increasing the profitability of their businesses is highly relevant for poverty reduction and gender equity. This study evaluates the impacts of a BDS programserving female microentrepreneurs in Lima using an experimental design, that included two treatment groups: One received only general training (GT), albeit more time-intense than previous studies, and delivered by experts, while the other received in addition technical assistance (TA). Results show the existence of room for efficiency gains and growth, as all treated showed increased sales revenues and self-reported adoption of recommended business practices. Those that received only GT showed positive but not significant effects early on, but the two treatment groups showed indistinguishable growth, above 15%, two years after the end of the treatment. Low take up of the training may suggest some space to improve recruitment and delivery of treatments</p> The full abstract of the study, if available Links https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2014.10.005 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 training transform a small trader/producer in a microentrepreneur? Sample Trial population and sample selection A total of 2400 women filled out the commitment sheets during the two rounds of recruitment, 1200 in each cone. However, only 1979 (83%) of them were interviewed at baseline, as the rest were not found or refused the interview. Number of treatment groups Size of treatment groups Size of control group Unit of analysis Clustered? Yes No Cluster details Trial attributes Treatment description Some entrepreneurs are offered solely the general training, other entrepreneurs receive the business consulting component in addition. A third group doesn’t receive any support. General business training: Thirty-six three-hour group sessions held three times a week over a period of three months. Sessions focus on explaining the best practices associated with successful micro-entrepreneurs and cover three modules: personal development (self-esteem, social skills and life planning), business development (plan new businesses or process innovations in current ones, marketing and sales strategies, and costing) and management and productivity improvements (customer care, safety and hygiene of production processes and production workshops). The training is provided by highly experienced professionals and costs about US$341 per participant. Business consulting: A combination of individual and group consulting sessions for an additional three months. The sessions cover the same three modules as the general training. During those sessions self-help groups and investment groups are encouraged and supported. In the consulting sessions, the support is more specific and tailored to the characteristics of the individual businesses and their needs. Rounds of data collection Baseline data collection and method The recruitment was implemented in two rounds. The first round took place in February of 2009 in the northern cone, while the second round took place in September of the same year in the southern cone. 1979 eligible women from 34 zones were recruited and surveyed at baseline.The questionnaire included questions about socio-demographic characteristics of the eligible women and her family, economic activities by all family members, characteristics of the eligible women's businesses as well as business practices and performance.We also asked the women about their business knowledge, attitudes and perceptions aswell as their involvement in key business and family decisions. For the second follow up survey, we went back to a team of 17 surveyors over a 3 month period, although the last month was mostly dedicated to revisit those initially not found. Data collection method and data collected Evaluation Outcome variables <p>Business results, Sales, Business practices, Participation in business related associations, Business credits, Risk proneness and time discounting, Entrepreneurial attitudes</p> Results <p>Firms that received the consulting sessions and the general training register increased adoption of recommended business practices compared to those which only received the training. This effect was particularly significant for larger firms. </p> <p>Among those that only received the general training, only firms with higher sales volumes increased the adoption of recommended practices in the longer run.</p> <p>The most common practices adopted were bookkeeping and paying the business owner a fixed salary instead of taking money out of the business depending on household needs and business capacity. </p> <p>Firms offered any of the support schemes were, on average, more likely to participate in business associations a few months later, but the effect only persisted for those firms offered the consulting complement.</p> <p>Firms in all support schemes increased their use of formal credit. Credit from informal rotating savings and credit associations only increased for those that received the consulting session, which promoted and supported those associations, but it decreased for those only offered the general training.</p> <p>Accessing the general business training increased business sales by over 15 per cent two years after the programme, regardless of the consulting complement.</p> <p>For smaller firms, the effects on sales showed earlier but vanished over time. The effects on larger firms took longer to develop but were higher and more persistent.</p> <p>The effects on sales showed earlier, from four to seven months after the programme, for those receiving the consulting complement.</p> <p>None of the schemes affected employment or capital significantly. If anything, employment is slightly reduced and capital slightly increased.</p> <p>In the short run, firms that received any of the support schemes registered increased in productivity, although these gains had vanished two years after the programme.</p> <p>Productivity gains only persisted for firms owned by highly educated women and those with higher entrepreneurial traits who received the consulting complement.</p> Intervention costs The full intervention was budgeted at US $ 674 per beneficiary, distributed roughly evenly between the GT and TA components. Cost benefit ratio Reference Valdivia, M., 2015. Business training plus for female entrepreneurship? Short and medium-term experimental evidence from Peru. Journal of Development Economics, 113, 33-51. Citation for use in academic references
