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 A brief description of the project's goals and its current state Abstract <p>Microentrepreneurs in developing countries face complex financial management challenges. Many entrepreneurs do not have the financial skills to address these challenges and traditional classroom-based financial training has not been shown effective in changing behavior or improving financial outcomes. What is the most effective way to equip microentrepreneurs with the necessary skills to address their financial management challenges? Traditional financial education curricula have shown very mixed results for improving knowledge and financial practices among microentrepreneurs. In this study, the researchers build on earlier work by one of the authors that shows the promise of using a simple, heuristics-based financial education curriculum. In the current project the researchers test whether it is feasible to communicate these heuristics via mobile phone messages in a scalable and sustainable fashion. Carefully designed messages that are simple to understand and adopt will be sent at particularly useful times to optimize effectiveness. The study will measure the impact of this strategy on the financial management behavior and business outcomes of microentrepreneurs.</p> The full abstract of the study, if available Links https://ssrn.com/abstract=3971013 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 What is the most effective way to equip microentrepreneurs with the necessary skills to address their financial management challenges? Sample Trial population and sample selection microentrepreneurs in urban and peri-urban areas who had outstanding individual business loans with the microfinance institution Janalakshmi and expressed interest in this programme Number of treatment groups Size of treatment groups 1,041 treatment and 1,002 control Size of control group Unit of analysis Clustered? Yes No Cluster details Trial attributes Treatment description The study randomly sends entrepreneurs easy-to-remember and actionable heuristics tips on financial and business management to measure how to best equip them with the necessary business skills. Rounds of data collection Baseline data collection and method Data collection method and data collected Evaluation Outcome variables <p>firm profitability, productivity, business practices</p> Results <p>Pending</p> Intervention costs Cost benefit ratio Reference Cole, S., Schoar, A. (forthcoming). 'Rules of Thumb: Providing Timely Financial Management Advice at Scale in India'. Ongoing research. Citation for use in academic references
