A research
project examining the impact of business training and capital grants on
existing and potential female enterprises. A baseline and four follow-up surveys of around 600 current female enterprise
owners and 600 unemployed but potential self-employed females in 10 Divisional Secretariat divisions
in 7 districts. ILO-developed business
training (through a business consulting firm) was administered and cash treatments to randomly
selected enterprises.
RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS
RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS
“Business Training and Female Enterprise Start-up, Growth and
Dynamics: Experimental Evidence from Sri Lanka”
We conduct a randomized experiment
among women in urban Sri Lanka to measure the impact of the most commonly used
business training course in developing countries, the Start-and-Improve Your
Business (SIYB) program. We study two groups of women: a random sample
operating subsistence enterprises and a random sample out of the labor force
but interested in starting a business. We track impacts of two treatments –
training only and training plus a cash grant – over two years. For women in
business, training changes business practices but has no impact on business
profits, sales or capital stock. The grant plus training combination increases business
profitability in the first eight months, but this impact dissipates in the
second year. Among potential startups, business training hastens entry –
without changing longer-term ownership rates – and increases profitability. We
conclude that training may be more effective for new owners.
Published in Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 106,
January 2014, pp. 199-210.
A previous version of this paper is available
as IZA Discussion Paper No 6896, October 2012. (downloadable from http://ftp.iza.org/dp6896.pdf)