2017年-世界发展银行全球_Business_Training_for_Female_Microenterprise_Owners_in_Kenya_Grew_Their_Firms_without_Harming_Their_Competitors_2页_686kb

Finance & PSD Impact: Summary of Get-Ahead Business Training Program Evaluation

Core Content

This document summarizes the findings of an impact evaluation of the Get-Ahead business training program for female microenterprise owners in Kenya, conducted by David McKenzie and Susana Puerto. The study focuses on the direct and spillover effects of the program on business performance and market dynamics.

Main Points of the Study

• Program Overview: The Get-Ahead program is a 5-day business training initiative by the ILO, aimed at low-income female entrepreneurs. It teaches both traditional business skills and addresses gender-specific challenges.
• Study Context: The evaluation was conducted in Kenya, involving 3,537 women across 157 markets in four counties. The typical participant was a 36-year-old woman selling food products from a market stall, earning about $13 per week.
• Study Design: A two-stage randomized experiment was used. Markets were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, and within treatment markets, women were randomly selected for training.
• Training Cost: The program cost approximately $250 per woman, but was offered for free in the study. 77.7% of eligible women participated.

Key Findings

• Direct Impact on Participants:

  • After three years, treated women earned 15% higher profits, averaging $2.60 per week more than the control group.
  • They were 3 percentage points more likely to have their businesses survive.
  • Their weekly sales increased by 13%.

• Spillover Effects:

  • No negative spillover effects were observed on other women in the same markets.
  • The program did not lead to a reduction in the number of new businesses entering the market.

• Market-Level Impact:

  • Treated markets saw 17% more weekly customers and 14% higher sales.
  • The increase in sales was not due to reallocation from other businesses, but rather to improved business practices and greater market attractiveness.

• Mechanisms of Impact:

  • Trained women became more reliable in their opening hours.
  • They diversified their product range, leading to increased customer interest and overall market growth.

• Long-Term Effects:

  • The impact of training was stronger after three years than after one year.
  • Training did not significantly increase the use of credit or financial services.
  • Business owners likely built their inventories and profitability over time through reinvestment of profits.

• Mentoring Intervention:

  • A mentoring component was tested for half of the trained participants, but it did not yield significantly different results compared to training alone.
  • The mentoring intervention was more costly, at $553 per woman.

Policy Implications

• The study challenges the notion that business training is ineffective, showing that it can have positive and measurable impacts when implemented with a rigorous design.
• The $2.60 per week increase in income is modest but meaningful for low-income women.
• The results suggest that business training can benefit the broader market without harming competitors, indicating a positive spillover effect.
• The findings support the idea that policy interventions can help improve market structures in developing countries by promoting better business practices among entrepreneurs.

Conclusion

The Get-Ahead program demonstrates that targeted business training for female microenterprise owners can lead to sustainable improvements in business performance and market-level growth, without adverse effects on competitors. These results highlight the importance of rigorous evaluation methods in understanding the true impact of training programs and underscore the role of policy in fostering market development.