92629 Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Potential programs to improve livelihoods for vulnerable workers Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Potential programs to improve livelihoods for vulnerable workers Yoonyoung Cho, David Robalino, and Samantha Watson This note was prepared to synthesize a series of knowledge products developed under the self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship project (P127002). Useful inputs and suggestions were provided throughout the project by Xavier Cirera, Leonardo Iacovone, and Esperanza Lasagabaster. The authors also thank Graham Dixie, Sukanya Garg, Hyewon Kang, David Margolis, and Marta Malgorzata Milkowska for their contributions. The World Bank Education Team, led by Alexandria Valerio, provided invaluable input through the provision of data from their Entrepreneurship Education and Training database which accounts for half of the inventoried programs in this paper. Helpful comments were received from Mary Hallward-Driemeier, Cem Mete, Jamele Rigolino, and Dena Ringold in their role as peer reviewers. Rita Almeida, Louise Fox, Mattias Lundberg, Iftikhar Malik, Lucian Pop, Patrick Premand, Maria Laura Sanchez Puerta, and conference participants at the 9th IZA/ World Bank Conference on Employment and Development in Lima, Peru, provided useful inputs. For more information, contact Yoonyoung Cho (ycho1@worldbank.org), Task Team Leader of this activity. © 2014 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Rights and Permissions The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because the World Bank encourages dissemination of its knowl- edge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long as full attribution to this work is given. Any queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to the Office of the Publisher, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2422; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. Cover photo: World Bank Cover design/layout and editing: Nita Congress Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship W orldwide, around 55 percent of work- Box 1. Terminology used ers are self-employed, and about three-quarters of these are likely to Employment status (objective) be subsistence entrepreneurs. These ∎∎ Wage workers (wage employment) self-employed workers include farmers and own-ac- ∎∎ Nonwage workers (self-employed) count workers, many of whom work in small house- –– Agricultural workers hold enterprises without pay. A large proportion of –– Nonpaid family workers these workers live in poor or vulnerable households. In –– Own-account workers Sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, close to 80 percent of –– Employers the self-employed are poor.1 While numerous countries have adopted programs that aim to promote self-em- Entrepreneurs (interchangeable with self- ployment and small-scale entrepreneurship (SSE), the employed, but often a subjective designation and design of such programs seems ill suited to respond not homogeneous) to the needs of those who engage in entrepreneurial ∎∎ Transformational: Refers to high-growth, innova- activities not by choice, but by necessity. tive, and expansive entrepreneurs who are likely to have entrepreneurial traits This note discusses the potential public policy role of ∎∎ Vocational: Refers to those who choose entre- programs aimed at improving the livelihoods of subsis- preneurial activities and business as a vocation, tence entrepreneurs (box 1). It begins by looking at the but who likely lack the desire or ability to grow a characteristics of self-employed workers, the different business types of entrepreneurs, and the constraints they face. ∎∎ Subsistence: Refers to those who are self-em- It then analyzes the potential role of public policy in improving the earning opportunities of subsistence ployed out of necessity and who often lack skills 1 and entrepreneurial traits entrepreneurs, the types of programs that could be used, and general issues to be considered when designing and implementing pilot interventions. The note has four main messages: ∎∎ Given the market failures faced by subsistence entrepreneurs interventions that complement ∎∎ In the context of a global strategy to increase the safety net programs could be considered to incomes of the poorest workers, it is important to increase earnings and improve the livelihoods of identify interventions to support subsistence entre- subsistence entrepreneurs. preneurs. The constraints they face and the type of support they need differ from those of vocational ∎∎ Going forward, it is critical to adopt a more sys- or transformational entrepreneurs. tematic approach to designing, implementing, and evaluating new programs. Special attention should ∎∎ The evidence of what works is limited. A few pro- be paid to eligibility, targeting, and profiling mech- grams have been successful, but they tend to be anisms; selection of businesses to be supported; small, and there is limited knowledge available adaptation of core interventions (training, access about design and implementation in different con- to finance, advisory and mentoring services, and texts and with different types of beneficiaries. networking) to beneficiary needs; whether and how programs are integrated into subsectors and/or The poverty line is defined as $2 per day for per capita 1 value chains; and delivery mechanisms for different household consumption. services. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship 1 Understanding self-employment and the role of public policy workers tend to be better educated. Self-employment also tends to follow a strong life-cycle pattern and to become more common with age (figure 2). How- ever, there is large heterogeneity across countries. Who are the self-employed? For instance, self-employment is quite common, even among youth, in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, par- Most workers in middle- and, particularly, low-income ticularly in agriculture. Gender effects also tend to be countries are self-employed: either farmers or own-ac- country specific. In Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, count workers in nonfarm activities. The share of women are more likely to be self-employed than men. workers in agriculture drops as a country's income per More women than men work in wage employment in capita increases. Even in the average middle-income Europe and Central Asia and in Latin America and the country, however, around half of workers are self-em- Caribbean. ployed, and three-quarters of the non-agriculture jobs are own-account work (figure 1a). In Sub-Saharan Africa Close to 70 percent of the self-employed worldwide and South Asia, for instance, where the large majority live in poor households; these are subsistence entre- is self-employed, about 20 percent of the employed preneurs or severely constrained vocational entrepre- are own-account or unpaid workers outside agriculture, neurs. Given that households often have more than and more than half are agricultural workers (figure 1b). one self-employed individual, the high prevalence of poverty attests to the low level of productivity and Individual characteristics such as education, age, earnings of these businesses and activities, particularly and gender are important determinants of employ- in agriculture (figure 3). Clearly, there are important ment status including self-employment. On average, differences across regions which reflect the income 2 own-account workers and agricultural workers have level of the countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 80 per- low educational outcomes, while employers and wage cent of the self-employed live in poor households, Figure 1. Proportion of workers who are self-employed a. By per capita GDP b. By region Percent 100 East Asia and Pacific All agricultural workers 80 Europe and Non-agriculture Agriculture Central Asia 60 Latin America and the Caribbean Non−agricultural wage and salaried 40 Middle East and North Africa Non−agricultural employer 20 South Asia Non−agricultural own-account Non−agricultural unpaid Sub-Saharan 0 Africa 0.3 0.5 1.0 2.5 5.0 10.0 25.0 50.0 Per capita GDP (thousand $) 0 20 40 60 80 100 Source: Based on data from Gindling and Newhouse 2014. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Figure 2. Non-agriculture self-employment as a percentage of total working-age population, by gender and age a. Female b. Male Percent Percent 10 20 Own-account Own-account 8 15 6 10 4 Nonpaid employee 5 Nonpaid employee 2 Employer Employer 0 0 20 40 60 20 40 60 Age Age Source: Gindling and Newhouse 2014. (figure 4). Mobility is generally greater for men than Figure 3. Poverty among the self-employed women. Transition rates are higher among the non-ag- All riculture self-employed. Nonetheless, mobility is 3 considerably lower when only focusing on movements East Asia between jobs, excluding transitions in and out of the and Pacific labor market and unemployment. Mobility of own-ac- Europe and count workers, in particular, is in large part explained Central Asia Non-agriculture Agriculture by their exiting the labor market or becoming unem- Latin America and the Caribbean ployed as opposed to transitioning into other employ- Middle East and ment opportunities. This may suggest the precarious- North Africa ness of own-account activities. South Asia Own-account workers are a heterogeneous group. Sub-Saharan Profiling analysis suggests that among less successful Africa 0 20 40 60 80 100 entrepreneurs (own-account workers), there are some Percent that have the characteristics of the more successful Source: Based on data from Gindling and Newhouse 2014. (employers).2 For instance, a non-negligible proportion of own-account workers have seemingly similar char- acteristics to employers (table 1). Similarly, employers compared to only about 20 percent in either Europe and Central Asia or Latin America and the Caribbean. 2 The propensity for a worker to be an employer or own-ac- count worker is estimated using observable characteristics Employment status is not static: workers move in and such as age, education, or sector of employment; this out of the labor market and transition between jobs serves a basis for similarity/difference in characteristics. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Figure 4. Proportions of individuals who change employment status Percent 60 Male Female 50 40 30 20 10 0 Argentina Brazil Chile Indonesia Mexico Moldova Pakistan Philippines Russia S. Africa Tanzania Uganda (1) (1) (1) (7) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (2) (2) (4) Source: Based on data from Cho, Robalino, and Romero 2014. Note: Panel spans specified in parentheses. Table 1. Share of own-account workers with characteristics similar to employers in 10 countries Gender Argentina Brazil Chile Indonesia Mexico Pakistan Philippines South Africa Tanzania Uganda 4 Men 0.623 0.568 0.185 0.573 0.735 0.309 0.058 0.102 0.287 0.134 Women 0.533 0.503 0.210 0.829 0.534 0.000 0.007 0.195 0.164 0.085 Source: Cho, Robalino, and Romero 2014. have many observable attributes in common with What are the constraints facing own-account workers. In general, the literature sug- the self-employed and small-scale gests that different types of entrepreneurs—for entrepreneurs? example, transformational, vocational, and subsistence entrepreneurs—coexist.3 Potential constraints and factors that may affect pro- ductivity and earnings can be classified in two groups: individual and environmental (table 2). Individual constraints include lack of entrepreneurial aptitude and traits, skills, and social capital. Environmental constraints include limited access to financial ser- For instance, Grimm, Knorringa, and Lay (2012) defined 3 10 percent of business owners as “top performers,” based vices and products, an adverse business environment, on their accumulated capital and its profitability. The underdeveloped markets for inputs and outputs, and likelihood of being a top performer increases with char- other impeding cultural factors. Even if the market acteristics such as age, education, and “entrepreneurial spirit.” The researchers then obtained the propensity to and regulatory failures that create environmental be successful and find those who have similar success pro- constraints could be removed, the lack of aptitude, pensity among unsuccessful ones (so-called “constrained gazelles”). Thus, high performers, constrained gazelles, and skills, and cognitive abilities to understand, discover, entrepreneurs with low potential coexist in the market. and develop business opportunities traps subsistence Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Table 2. Individual and environmental constraints to entrepreneurship Individual constraints Environmental constraints ∎∎ Aptitude ∎∎ Financial services –– Personality (noncognitive skills) –– Availability of banking service –– Aspiration and preferences –– Access to credits/loan –– Financial management tools (e.g., debit/credit card) ∎∎ Skills –– Basic skills ∎∎ Local business environment –– Technical skills –– Regulatory and legal environment –– Business skills –– Government capacity (corruption) –– Financial capability –– Infrastructure –– Noncognitive skills (personality) ∎∎ Access to markets ∎∎ Social capital ∎∎ Cultural factors –– Networks, associations –– Attitudes and norms –– Social class/status/gender entrepreneurs in a low-level productivity equilibrium. risks.4 Self-employed workers who are entrepreneurs Therefore, the discussion below is limited to individual by necessity and for subsistence are often deemed to constraints, which tend to be the focus of SSE pro- lack entrepreneurial aptitude. There is still a limited grams. (See appendix for a full list of assessment tools understanding of how these traits are formed and by type of constraint.) affect behaviors. However, an assessment of entre- preneurial traits can potentially inform the targeting Aptitude or design of SSE programs. Several interlinked attributes, such as personality, 5 aspiration, and noncognitive skills, fall in the category Skills of entrepreneurial aptitude or traits. A large volume The ability of individuals to develop a business activity, of literature argues that entrepreneurial aptitude is solve problems, make financial decisions, manage risks, an important determinant of business success. Some or find clients depends on their skills. Basic numeracy personality traits that are associated with being suc- and literacy skills seem to be a precondition to setting cessful in business include: innovative, imaginative, up and operating a business, but these skills are often creative, flexible, adaptable, reliable, responsible, lacking due to low levels of education, particularly self-reliant, and calculated risk-taking (Develi 2011). The among subsistence entrepreneurs. Low levels of cog- Big 5 Personality Test and the Pearlin and Schooler nitive skills affect the capacity of individuals to inter- scale (the locus of control or self-efficacy) are exam- pret and process information about events that can ples of tools commonly used to assess personality or affect their business and require strategic actions. Low noncognitive skills. Aspiration, on the other hand, is cognitive skills also limit the capacity to choose viable related to entrepreneurs’ motivation to create new economic activities in the first place and to learn from products, innovate, achieve, and grow a business. failure or success (Heckman, Stixrud, and Urzua 2006). In According to the Skills Towards Employability and Ghana, for instance, about 80 percent of workers with Productivity (STEP) skills measurement surveys, the lower secondary education self-report that they are top 25 percent of self-employed earners are differ- entiated from other self-employed counterparts in 4 See Pierre et al. (2014) and Valerio et al. (2014) for the sum- terms of their socio-emotional skills: they are more mary methodology and findings from the STEP skills mea- intuitive in their decision making and tend to take surement surveys. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship literate, but only 50 percent pass the core reading test society's social interactions. When it comes to busi- because they lack a sufficient level of literacy (Pierre et ness, social capital is the primary resource entrepre- al. 2014; Valerio et al. 2014). neurs may rely upon to find new business opportu- nities, manage resources, and secure legitimacy from Technical skills are critical in many jobs—such as a external stakeholders (Stam, Arzlanian, and Elfring tailor’s skills to make and repair clothes, or a farmer’s 2013). In particular, the role of social capital in facili- skills to operate machinery. Many workers acquire such tating access to credit among the poor in developing skills through informal arrangements, learning from countries has been widely recognized.5 Vulnerable family or friends or by working at local workshops. workers, who are often unable to build or participate Building these skills and maintaining up-to-date tech- in networks—in part due to a lack of noncognitive niques can be a challenge for workers. In the region of skills or external constraints such as social norms— San Gregorio, Ecuador, for instance, many farmers are tend to lack social capital and engage in business engaged in the cultivation of balsa wood. Reported activities in isolation. This limits entrepreneurs’ ability mortality rates of the young trees, however, are over to receive information, learn about new technology, or 50 percent because workers are using outdated plant- take advantage of economies of scale. India’s Self-Em- ing techniques and do not implement schemes to ployed Women’s Association is a good example of how address the most common predators. Such examples social capital can assist self-employed women in con- of inadequate skills are commonplace in developing necting to information, markets, and financing. countries, particularly in remote areas. Skills are also lacking with respect to basic principles What could be the role of public policy of business and finance. Business skills enable individ- for subsistence entrepreneurs? 6 uals to manage sales and marketing, human resources, customer relations, and accounts. A few recent stud- Whether governments should intervene to improve ies (e.g., Bloom and Van Reenen 2010; Bowen and De the earnings and livelihoods of subsistence entrepre- Clercq 2008) have emphasized business skills and neurs through entrepreneurship programs is, in the managerial capital as a key factor in successful entre- end, a question about the social benefits and costs of preneurship. A survey in Uganda, for instance, shows the intervention. One strand of research suggests that that managerial deficiencies such as incorrect pricing, programs to promote entrepreneurship should target poor recordkeeping, inadequate inventory control, and individuals with the highest growth potential, with faulty product concept are among the main causes of sufficient cognitive skills and entrepreneurial aptitude. small business failure (Tushabomwe-Kazooba 2006). This implies that the support subsistence entrepre- Moreover, a lack of financial capability substantially neurs could receive would be limited to antipoverty limits the ability to operate a business, particularly transfers and probably interventions to connect them over a longer term (Holzman, Mulaj, and Perotti 2013). to wage employment. When wage employment is Along with low education and limited access to finan- lacking, however, safety nets alone will not lead to a cial products, a lack of financial skills often exposes sustained increase in earnings and living standards. At entrepreneurs to mismanagement of cash flows, the same time, it might be possible—and examples do overindebtedness, and scams and fraud. exist—to have SSE programs that generate social ben- efits greater than social costs. These benefits would Social capital Social capital refers to the institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and quantity of a See van Bastelaer (2000) for a review. 5 Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship include increasing incomes and consumption levels or ongoing experiments (e.g., Conley and Udry 2010; above what could be achieved through safety nets (C Giné and Yang 2009) are particularly concerned with in figure 5), and reducing safety net expenditures and finding good mechanisms to upgrade skills and facili- their associated opportunity cost (B in figure 5). In tate the adoption of new technology. addition, there can be positive externalities resulting from potentially higher investments in human capital. More complex interventions would require changes in the organization of a given business, aiming to facilitate One set of programs would aim to improve the earn- entrepreneurs to engage in more transformative activ- ings generated by current activities, without attempt- ities and/or to be integrated into value chains. Farmers, ing to change the nature of the work or individual or other self-employed, for example, could be involved traits. This outcome would be possible by improving in a processing business of their basic produce: trees pricing mechanisms, product quality, and produc- into wood planks, fruits into frozen pulp or conserves, tion technologies to reduce costs and/or increase and animals into meat. By bringing several small farmers output and/or quality; or by expanding markets. Many or crafts people into associations or cooperatives and subsistence farmers, for instance, could be better increasing production volumes, the resulting groups off simply by having access to better seeds, better could take advantage of economies of scale and the products to protect their crops, and appropriate tech- local, regional, or national value chains often found in nology—even if their production is only for house- specific sectors such as food products, tourism, and hold consumption and does not generate external textiles. For this type of intervention, it is reasonable employment. Thus, interventions with the potential to to envisage that third parties with the necessary tech- increase the earnings of the self-employed would be nical expertise—either for-profit or nonprofit enti- possible, without expecting subsistence entrepreneurs ties—could develop the business plans and manage to become vocational or transformational entrepre- the implementation, including mobilizing the necessary 7 neurs. Such interventions include efforts to improve resources and expertise. Many of these opportunities knowledge and upgrade technology, facilitate better might not be exploited because of low expected pri- access to equipment and inputs, and offer better vate rates of return on investments with high associ- opportunities to price and sell products. Some recent ated risk, lack of local knowledge, coordination costs, or regulatory failures. The role of the public sector would be to facilitate the emergence of business that Figure 5. Conceptualizing the social cost and integrates subsistence entrepreneurs into more lucra- benefit of SSE programs tive and transformative activities, including by ensuring access to skills, credit/grants, and basic infrastructure. Earnings Social cost of not having SSE program = A + B + C Cost of efficient SSE program < B + C Cost of safety net Income with SSE program C 2 What programs exist to promote self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship? B A Income without SSE program This section presents an overview of an inventory of 106 SSE programs, including both organizational approaches and specific entrepreneurship projects Age that aim to improve the earnings opportunities for self-employed workers, (see figure 6 for regional Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Figure 6. Regional distribution of SSE Targeting, eligibility, and selection programs reviewed Definition, identification, and selection of beneficia- Percent ries are often the greatest challenge in program design. 45 41% The general trend, in both organizational approaches 40 35 and projects, is toward open beneficiary groups with 30 demand-driven services, targeting mainly existing 25 22% entrepreneurs; around 79 percent of organizational 20 16% 15 approaches and 58 percent of projects target this 10 7% 10% group. Programs often target a broad group by includ- 7% 5 ing micro, small, and medium-size enterprises with 0 East Europe Latin Middle South Sub- more established entrepreneurs covered—suggesting Asia & & America East & Asia Saharan Pacific Central & the North Africa that subsistence entrepreneurs are largely excluded Asia Caribbean Africa from public intervention. Source: Based on SSE program inventory. Targeting based on the characteristics of poten- tial beneficiaries (such as age, education, gender, or distribution of the programs).6 The results show income level) is not prominent among the SSE pro- the landscape of current programs, revealing large grams in the inventory. For instance, 32 percent of the variations in terms of design and implementation projects focus solely on women, while the rest include arrangements. Unfortunately many existing programs both genders. Similarly, programs that are exclusive to youth are not numerous; about a quarter of projects 8 are unlikely to be suited to the needs of subsistence entrepreneurs. target this group. Although projects often recognize the greater needs among women and youth and utilize gender- or age-specific quotas or mobilization meth- ods (e.g., women’s associations, youth groups, commu- The review was based on an entrepreneurship inventory 6 that documents characteristics of SSE programs, and sup- nity nomination, or outreach campaigns), SSE programs plementary interviews with practitioners and experts. An tend not to use demographic targeting. Surprisingly, emphasis was placed on programs that target the self-em- education or skills levels also are not often part of ployed and businesses with 10 employees or fewer. Some programs discussed here are organizational approaches targeting criteria, and only 25 percent use education such as curricula or tools for entrepreneurial training that levels in eligibility. Some assessment of skills—whether are adaptable to various projects (e.g., the International Labour Organization’s Know About Business initiative). using education as a proxy or directly testing benefi- Others are projects with heterogeneous implementation ciaries—is likely to help customize the design of SSE details. The inventory was drawn from three sources: (1) programs to participant needs. Further, few programs the Entrepreneurship Education and Training (EET) data- base created by the World Bank Team (see Valerio, Parton, explicitly target the poor or beneficiaries of safety and Robb 2014a and 2014b for more information on the nets. This finding suggests that SSE programs may cur- database), (2) the Youth Employment Network (YEN) data- base; and (3) relevant World Bank projects with “entrepre- rently overlook the most vulnerable group of workers neurship” and “self-employment” as keywords in the main who could benefit from such programs the most. stated objectives. In selecting programs for the inventory, the focus was on programs that directly address con- straints of individual beneficiaries with respect to business It is not clear what methods programs use to select activities as opposed to indirect approaches—such as the beneficiaries within the defined target group; in fact, construction of business infrastructure, capacity building of financial institutions, or the facilitation of financial only 20 projects in the inventory report their selec- inclusion without the promotion of business activities. tion methods. Among these programs, business plan Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship review/competition is most frequently used, followed vast majority of organizational approaches and nearly by written applications and community nomination three-quarters of projects provide some combination (figure 7). Several programs report that business plan of multiple services. The number of services com- review/competition, written application, or interview bined in a program varies across regions (figure 8). For selection methods often serve as a tool to assess and instance, about 75 percent of programs in the Latin identify constraints in addition to screening applicants America and the Caribbean region provide two ser- when targeting entrepreneurs with limited skills and vices or less, compared to the Sub-Saharan Africa and education. Recently, a handful of programs have begun using psychometric tests that discern some entrepre- Figure 8. Number of services provided by neurial traits as part of their selection process. The region World Bank’s Women Entrepreneurship Development Project in Ethiopia, for instance, in collaboration with Percent Harvard’s Entrepreneurial Finance Lab Research Ini- 100 90 tiative, is testing a psychometric measure of assessing 4 services 80 credit for selecting participants for access to finance. 3 services 70 If proven effective, such tests will allow commercial 2 services 60 banks to assess the credit worthiness of lower-income 1 service 50 individuals who lack collateral and credit. 40 30 20 Technical components 10 Program services were classified into four technical 0 Latin America South Asia Sub- Saharan Other regions 9 & the Africa components: training, access to finance, advisory and Caribbean mentoring services, and networking. The majority of programs provide combinations of these services: the Source: Based on SSE program inventory. Figure 7. Selection of beneficiaries Percent 80 75% 70 60 50 40 40% 30 30% 25% 20 15% 15% 10 10% 0 Interview Written Psychometric Business plan Caseworker Voluntary Community application tests review/business nomination idea competition Source: Based on SSE program inventory. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship South Asia regions where over 40 percent of programs is often consumption smoothing without promoting provide three to four services. This finding probably entrepreneurial activities. Over half of the programs reflects the fact that individuals in lower-income reviewed provided the two remaining services—advi- countries are more likely to be affected by multiple sory services and mentoring and networking. constraints. Similarly, when looking at implementation arrangements, projects implemented jointly by the Training public and private sectors are more comprehensive Training is a key method for building entrepreneur- than those delivered solely by either private or public ial capacity. About two-thirds of the projects in the service providers. inventory use traditional classroom-based training; workplace training, including apprenticeships and Training is by far the most commonly offered service on-the-job training, is used in 26 percent of the proj- (figure 9). Conversely, direct provision of access to ects. There is great variety across programs in terms of finance is the least prevalent service offered, with training intensity and duration. In fact, some programs only 30 percent of the projects reviewed providing it. literally customize trainings to each group, without Instead, many programs (67 percent of organizational having a standard approach even within the program. approaches and 60 percent of projects) report that Among the many topics covered in SSE programs, they link beneficiaries to outside financial services. business-related training predominates, including Projects that involve the private sector for service business planning, general business and marketing delivery are more likely to provide access to financial skills, and financial literacy and capability (figure 10a). services than purely publicly implemented projects: Foundational skills training such as numeracy/literacy 28 percent of public projects, 32 percent of private or vocational training is less prevalent. In Latin America projects, and 46 percent of combined public-pri- and the Caribbean, vocational training is particularly 10 vate projects provided direct access to finance. The low, with only 6 percent of programs providing such low utilization of access to finance in the programs content. South Asia, on the other hand, is the most reviewed may reflect the fact that the main objective likely to provide vocational content, with half of the of financing projects such as microcredit programs programs that include training addressing vocational content. Figure 9. Types of services provided Financial services As mentioned above, only 30 percent of the projects Percent reviewed have a component that directly provides 99% 100 access to finance, while 60 percent link beneficiaries to outside financial services. Figure 10b shows the specific 80 types of direct financial products programs provide. 59% 60 Cash grants, scholarships, and prizes are the most 52% common form of financial support, followed by micro- 40 30% finance. Sixty-three percent of the programs providing 20 access to finance in Sub-Saharan Africa, 100 percent of those in Latin America and the Caribbean, 67 percent 0 Training Access to Advisory Networking of those in South Asia, and 86 percent of those in the finance services & other regions provide grants, scholarships, and prizes. mentoring Meanwhile, savings and loans group, as well as micro- Source: Based on SSE program inventory. finance tend to be concentrated in Asia. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Figure 10. Training topics and financial service products offered a. Training topics b. Financial service products ICT & computer literacy Match required Literacy/numeracy Microfinance Life-skills/soft skills Savings and loan groups Management/operations Venture capital Financial literacy, finance Grants, scholarships, prizes & accounting Strategic planning/ In-kind credits business plan Marketing Lines of credit Loans, credits (financial), Vocational knowledge equity investments General business skills Loan guarantees 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Percent Percent Source: Based on SSE program inventory. Matching grants and loans that require the benefi- Caribbean (EPIC) is an example of this model. Still ciary to provide materials, investment, or cash up to a other programs require entrepreneurs to invest what certain percentage of the loan/grant amount appear to be common: 40 percent of all programs providing they already have into the business as a show of com- mitment. The Congo—Support to Economic Diversi- 11 access to finance require matching. The model is based fication Project uses this model and requires partici- on the belief that matching funds—even if only a pants to put up some 10–20 percent of the financing. small amount—helps ensure that the beneficiary is equally invested in the business. Match requirements Advisory services and networking on financial services are more prevalent in Latin Amer- Advisory services include technical assistance and ica and the Caribbean and in South Asia (67 percent mentoring, while network interventions help provide and 50 percent, respectively) than in the other regions entrepreneurs with linkages to peers and potential cli- (under 40 percent). ents. Technical assistance is defined as advice based on particular business issues or on the circumstances of Different models for matching grants exist. The Eco- the entrepreneur. Mentoring implies a closer relation- nomic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young ship and can include counseling on more personal and Women project in Liberia (AGI Liberia) and the Voca- nontechnical issues. In some cases, technical assistance tional Training for Youths with Disabilities in West- and mentoring are provided together. ern Area and Kono Districts project of Sierra Leone provide grants to encourage participants to save; the With respect to networking, horizontal networking is programs match any savings the participants accrue the most common type of support. Group business during their participation with a seed grant to start organizations, forums, and study tours to establish their business. Other programs use matching grants to networks are frequently used tools. The National Rural match any outside capital an entrepreneur can access. Livelihoods Project in India provides a good example The Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the of horizontal linkages that enable the many to achieve Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship more than any individual could. Specifically, the proj- private and public sector providers. Quite a high pro- ect encourages the formation of savings groups that portion of projects (40 percent) report direct service seek to overcome banks’ reluctance to work with delivery by public agencies; this can be a limitation in small entrepreneurial activities by combining assets; low-income settings where resources and institutional members submit a joint financing request and repay- capacity are lacking. As noted earlier, some variation ment plan to banks. Through these linkages, more rural exists in how programs are structured depending on businesses are able to access finance. Not surprisingly, the implementation arrangements. a higher percentage of programs targeting potential entrepreneurs provide networking services (62 per- Very few programs provide relevant information on cent) than those targeting existing entrepreneurs program costs. The available information (based on (48 percent). 10 projects in developing countries in the inventory) suggests that there is considerable heterogeneity across programs. (For more information on program Institutional arrangements costs, see Valerio, Parton, and Robb 2014a, 2014b). For instance, known cost per beneficiary ranges from $95 Implementation arrangements vary across the pro- (Women’s Enterprise Management Training Outreach grams reviewed. The public sector remains the largest Program in India) to $1,200 (AGI Liberia’s business funder for these programs (figure 11a), although some development track). This range reflects many factors, private sector funding complements and supports sev- including variety of services provided, program com- eral initiatives. More heterogeneity exists with regard prehensiveness, different methods of calculating cost to implementing agency (figure 11b). Private sector enti- per beneficiary, and variations in geographic pricing. ties such as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or With no standard method for calculating unit costs, 12 contracted service providers are the main implement- few programs providing information on costs, and dif- ers in over a third of the projects reviewed. An addi- ficulty in measuring social costs and benefits, little is tional 12 percent are implemented by a combination of known about the cost-effectiveness of each program. Figure 11. Implementation arrangements a. Funding type b. Implementing agency Not specified Not specified Combination Public Combination Private Public Private Source: Based on SSE program inventory. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Trends in evaluation Figure 12. Outcome indicators tracked Monitoring and evaluation systems are generally weak. Labor market activities Currently, only 7 of the organizational approaches and 36 of the projects reviewed had conducted rigorous Labor market income evaluations. Impact evaluations are more prominent Business knowledge in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, with and practice 69 percent of the region’s programs having rigorous Business performance evaluations, in comparison with 37 percent and 33 per- Financial behavior cent in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, respec- Attitudes tively. For the remaining three regions, 41 percent of programs have rigorous evaluations. Globally, the Other rigor of evaluations seems to vary with implementing 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 agency. Half of the programs implemented solely by Percent the private sector have rigorous evaluations, compared Source: Based on SSE program inventory. to 41 percent of publicly implemented programs and 38 percent of those implemented jointly by the public and private sectors. the size of these impacts is usually small. What seems Related to the weak monitoring and evaluation system, clear is that stand-alone interventions—especially many programs tend to focus on output indicators (e.g., access to credit on its own—are less likely to make a difference. This finding suggests that targeted bene- number of beneficiaries trained, number of toolkits dis- ficiaries face multiple constraints, and effective pro- 13 persed) rather than outcome indicators. Several do track outcome indicators (figure 12), including: labor market grams may need to integrate several services. activities (e.g., employment), income (e.g., profits/ earnings), business knowledge and practice (e.g., book- The likelihood of having positive impacts and the keeping), business performance (e.g., sales), financial size of impacts vary widely by outcomes of interest behavior (e.g., loan take-up), attitudes (e.g., confidence), (figure 13). Current evaluations suggest that business and others (e.g., indicators capturing the result of reg- knowledge and practice, such as recordkeeping, reg- ulation reform or public infrastructure investments). istration, and separation of individual and business Not surprisingly, the most frequently tracked outcomes accounts, are relatively easy to change compared to of interest include business performance such as sales, other outcomes. Thus, interventions such as business number of paid employees, or inventory amounts. training work relatively well for existing entrepreneurs. However, improved business knowledge and practice do not necessarily translate into business growth 3 or increased profits. This finding may be related to What do we know about the timing of the post-intervention survey, since the impacts? period between program completion and the survey is typically short, and the impacts for final outcomes There is limited evidence regarding the impacts of may not be fully materialized. entrepreneurship programs, and the results are mixed. Of the programs reviewed that have been evaluated, Regardless, business training programs are quite het- only around 30 percent have had positive results, but erogeneous both in terms of design and impact. The Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Figure 13. Impacts of SSE programs by outcomes of interest a. Labor activities b. Labor income t−value t−value 12 12 8 8 4 4 0 0 −4 −4 −.6 −.4 −.2 0 .2 .4 .6 .8 −.6 −.4 −.2 0 .2 .4 .6 .8 E ect size E ect size c. Business practice d. Business performance t−value t−value 12 12 8 8 4 4 0 0 −4 −4 −.4 −.2 0 .2 .4 .6 .8 −.6 −.4 −.2 0 .2 .4 .6 .8 E ect size E ect size 14 e. Financial behavior f. Attitudes t−value t−value 12 12 8 8 4 4 0 0 −4 −4 −.6 −.4 −.2 0 .2 .4 .6 .8 −.6 −.4 −.2 0 .2 .4 .6 .8 E ect size E ect size Training Financing Combined Source: Cho and Honorati 2014. target group for business training ranges from the rural arrangements. For instance, a study suggests that busi- self-employed to urban small and medium enterprises, ness training based on “rule of thumb” rather than on and their content, duration, intensity, and survey sophisticated and difficult lessons may be more effec- timing are equally diverse (McKenzie and Woodruff tive, specifically for the most vulnerable subsistence 2012). Although business training improves the survival self-employed (Drexler, Fischer, and Schoar 2011). Also, of existing enterprises and facilitates new business follow-up services beyond in-class business training start-up, more evidence is needed regarding best prac- to provide technical assistance tailored to individual tices in pedagogical approaches and implementation needs can further improve impacts. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Compared to business knowledge and practice, it family responsibilities). These considerations may is more difficult to change labor market outcomes help explain the project’s success: it led to a 47 per- including employment levels, hours worked, and— cent increase in employment and an 80 percent certainly—earnings. In general, programs providing increase in average weekly income among project training combined with financing or counseling beneficiaries. seem to perform better in promoting labor market activities, particularly for youth. Vocational training The chief conclusion emerging is that there is still lim- combined with grants in Nicaragua for social safety ited knowledge about the specific design and imple- net beneficiaries is an example of such a program mentation features that make a program successful for (Macours, Premand, and Vakis 2012). Grants provided a given population group and in a given context. Addi- to vulnerable youth in Uganda so they could pursue tionally, the fact that many of the programs evaluated vocational training also yielded positive outcomes are small pilots raises questions about external validity (Blattman, Fiala, and Martinez 2013). Conversely, and the potential for scaling up—a particular concern training or financing provided alone may not be suf- for programs that support businesses that operate ficient to address the complex constraints faced by in small local markets. It is also important to note microenterprise owners in developing countries. A that the evaluations provide little information about recent review by the Consultative Group to Assist the program sustainability. Even where there are positive Poor of largely stand-alone financing interventions effects on employment and earnings, these might be found few impacts regarding business performance short-lived given the high mortality and turnover rates and labor market outcomes (Bauchet et al. 2011). of entrepreneurial activities. There is little evidence of any difference in effective- ness between cash, in-kind grants, and microcredit A few questions related to targeting, design, and schemes. implementation remain to be further researched: 15 Overall, the impacts of interventions tend to be ∎∎ Targeting versus design. Do programs fail because weaker for women. Women may face more stringent they have targeted the wrong beneficiaries—i.e., constraints in skills acquisition and business opera- the self-employed who have little growth potential? tion, and control over finances often reverts to men Or do programs fail to adapt the design to respond even if women are business owners or recipients of to the needs of the type of beneficiaries targeted? microcredits.7 These results suggest that programs While great efforts have been made to identify need to be better tailored to address the constraints individuals with better prospects for business facing self-employed females. A successful example growth, relatively little attention has been paid to is the business development track of the AGI Liberia finding the right intervention for subsistence entre- program. This initiative specifically targeted young preneurs. Many of the SSE programs reviewed seem women and provided training in the locality in which to deliver the same kind of business support devel- they resided (taking into account their mobility con- oped for small and medium-size firms as opposed straints), and included free child care (addressing their to providing support tailored to the specific needs of self-employed workers. Capital infusion for microenterprises has had much 7 ∎∎ Design versus implementation. Even if a program is lower returns for women in Sri Lanka and Ghana (de Mel, well designed with technical components appro- McKenzie, and Woodruff 2008; Fafchamps et al. 2011); impacts of apprenticeship training are weaker for girls than priate to the situation and participants, it is likely boys in Malawi (Cho et al. 2013). to yield little impact if not well implemented. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Seemingly similar programs can work in one place be made in order to adjust and scale-up effective but fail in another. Proving the external validity of programs. There are four areas of program design that certain approaches is difficult due to heteroge- need to receive attention: (1) targeting, eligibility crite- neous implementation arrangements. The review ria, and beneficiary profiling; (2) identifying and select- suggests that many programs are still provided ing business activities; (3) defining core interventions; directly by governments/public sector. Yet, better and (4) choosing delivery options for various program programs seem to be delivered by local NGOs or components. community-level institutions, which are more likely to be familiar with beneficiary needs and con- straints. In future programming, process evaluations Targeting, eligibility criteria, and should be prioritized along with impact evaluations beneficiary profiling to gain insight into design versus implementation questions. The target group for SSE programs would be indi- viduals—not firms—who are, or who can become, ∎∎ Constraints versus complaints. Programs often rely self-employed in, generally, low-productivity/ on self-reported surveys to identify serious barriers low-earning activities. They are either poor or live in to productive entrepreneurship. Limited access households with consumption levels close to the pov- to finance is among the top constraints. However, erty line. They can be engaged in subsistence farming, limited evidence of financing services on entre- nonfarm activities in rural areas, or produce goods and preneurial outcomes suggests that limited access services in urban areas. Often self-employment may to finance might simply be a common complaint. not be their main, or at least not their only, activity; Many other impeding constraints may exist that are they can be involved in more than one type of busi- 16 as important as limited access to finance. There is a ness. Within this large set, governments should define great need for improving tools that provide objec- priorities based on policy objectives and could include tive information about individual and environmen- eligibility criteria such as age, gender, or geographic tal constraints. region. The same mechanisms used to target social assistance 4 General considerations in the design and implementation of programs to support subsistence programs can be used for SSE programs. These mech- anisms include combinations of geographical and categorical targeting, proxy means tests, and com- entrepreneurs munity participation. Caution should be exercised with regard to the trend observed in the reviewed The livelihoods of those engaged, or who can engage, programs of open beneficiary groups and self-selec- in self-employment or small-scale entrepreneurship as tion. The most vulnerable are not likely to be reached a subsistence activity could be improved through SSE through these approaches unless they are specifically programs. The objective of such programs would not targeted and actively mobilized. In many cases, the be to identify “gazelles” and help them grow, but to entry point to SSE programs can be existing safety support those who are engaged in subsistence activi- net programs that may have already addressed these ties even if they lack growth potential. The implication issues of outreach to and mobilization of the most is that government interventions should be properly vulnerable. Indeed, SSE programs could be linked to evaluated. Only after understanding their impacts, existing safety net programs as part of the graduation implementation challenges, and costs, can decisions strategy. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Even after identifying and targeting the potential frequently used instruments to profile individuals and beneficiaries, designing programs to fully benefit the assess constraints can be found in the appendix.) vulnerable groups is challenging. One issue involves the low take-up rate, which has become an ubiquitous observation among the poor across many different Identifying and selecting business sectors in developing countries. Examples of low activities take-up include underutilization of insecticide-treated bed nets (Ashraf, Fink, and Weil 2010), improved cook- There are two approaches to identifying business stoves (Hanna, Duflo, and Greenstone 2012), insurance activities. A participant-driven model, which is similar or savings (Mobarak and Rosenzweig 2012), and fertil- to that used in traditional entrepreneurship programs, izers (Duflo, Kremer, and Robinson 2011). Low take-up is one in which individuals select their business and may indicate that the returns are highly heterogeneous join the program. The other model is project identi- across different beneficiary groups and that programs fied. In this model, the project identifies, ex ante, prof- are not suitable for a subset of the population, par- itable business activities in a region or sector through ticularly for vulnerable groups faced with complex some type of assessment and guides participant constraints. start-up activities to the selected industry or business type. Both methods have pros and cons and are likely Profiling and understanding the skills, capabilities, and to be more relevant to some groups than others. constraints facing potential beneficiaries is, therefore, critical to the design of programs that are able to serve Participant driven the vulnerable. The profiling method will depend on In this approach, participants self-select into a program the context, but it is likely that survey instruments usually by applying for support, submitting a business and objective indicators are cheaper and more reli- plan or idea for review, or participating in offered ser- 17 able than the more subjective assessments of pro- vices (figure 14). Among those who already have an idea gram managers, counselors, or expert groups. (Some about a business or who operate actual businesses, Figure 14. Support for participant-driven businesses Support services profiling Identification of business/ Idea individual needs Contact Selection SUPPORT Current business Business plan First come first served Application Objective criteria Interview Selection committee Eligible individual or group of individuals Source: Based on SSE program inventory. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship beneficiaries are selected and support provided. Selec- may have insight into local preferences and tastes, tion methods to determine beneficiaries among appli- as well as cultural considerations. At the same time, cants, in case of oversubscription, include first come, however, it is also possible that beneficiaries end up first served; objective criteria including psychometric participating in activities already saturated or eco- tests or randomization; and selection by committee nomically nonviable if they lack a good understanding based on interviews or business proposals. Depending of market demands. The approach requires moti- on beneficiary needs, support packages can then be vation and self-perception as an entrepreneur, not- designed. Programs following this approach include withstanding the fact that many self-employed might AGI Liberia and the Women Entrepreneurship Devel- not see themselves as business people. And, even if opment Project in Ethiopia (table 3). sufficient applications are collected and business pro- posals are used as a screening method, if the quality This is a standard approach that entrepreneurship of business ideas is low, the program is likely to fail. programs typically take for business development. The strength of this approach is that it empowers For this model to reach out to more vulnerable and beneficiaries by helping them come up with their own subsistence entrepreneurs, the following consider- business ideas. The self-employed will choose ideas ations in identifying viable business opportunities for that match their skills and interests. In addition, they support should be taken into account: Table 3. Examples of participant-driven models Specifications for 18 Model General description Constraints addressed Implementation considerations very vulnerable/self- employed Examples Technical Technical or Technical/ ∎∎ Training model ∎∎ Inclusion of literacy ∎∎ AGI Liberia Training vocational training vocational does not lend and numeracy ∎∎ Vocational Model with model that offers skills as well as itself to advisory ∎∎ Psycho-social sup- Training for Entrepreneur- entrepreneurship business skills and networking port youths with ship Track support or a separate services Disabilities in ∎∎ Business awareness track for those ∎∎ Duration of Western Area and idea genera- interested training should and Kono Dis- tion consider skill tricts, Sierra ∎∎ Access to finance, sufficiency for Leone networks, and advi- self-employment sory services need to be included One Stop Training, finance, Dependent ∎∎ One-on-one ∎∎ An intermedia- ∎∎ Women Entre- Shop/Service advisory and on services advising to create tion, hands-on preneurship Window networking services provided and business services approach, rather Development available on demand, beneficiary package for each than light advising Project, Ethi- often through needs— beneficiary is likely needed, opia referral. Services customized ∎∎ Considerable with much more ∎∎ Self-Employed are requested via a linkages to other guidance and idea Women’s business idea or plan. programs and generation Association Staff can provide institutions nec- ∎∎ Linkage to social Community guidance as to what essary to have services/psychoso- Learning Cen- services might be sufficient services cial support ters, India most useful. Based on need, a customized package is offered to the beneficiary. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship ∎∎ Entrepreneurship awareness and sensitization activities that could be introduced. In some cases, should be a priority so that applicants see them- business opportunities can be flagged by the private selves as potential business people. sector. In others, an assessment would need to be con- ducted; this is usually part of a study of subsectors or ∎∎ Outreach activities need to be considered, as sub- value chains, and takes into account the availability of sistence workers with limited social networks are natural resources, infrastructure, regulatory environ- the hardest group to reach. ment, and human capital. The accuracy of such assess- ments has been debated, which should be taken into ∎∎ Applications should be simple, given the target consideration. group’s lack of education and skills. In this model, participants are expected to develop ∎∎ Potential beneficiaries would need support in pre- their businesses within the context of the parameters paring these applications in selecting types of activ- selected by the project. ity and requested services. Given participants’ lack of entrepreneurial traits and ∎∎ There should be a mechanism to judge whether ability to develop business ideas, this approach likely businesses/activities are economically viable; this is has advantages in serving the needs of the less capable crucial in avoiding market saturation. entrepreneurs. In addition, this approach, despite its complexity compared to the participant-driven one, Project identified holds promise for potential impacts on a large scale. In this case, the project identifies, ex ante, business opportunities through market and subsector mapping The project-identified approach includes value and demand surveys (figure 15). The opportunities chain integration and microfranchising (see table 4 19 include both current activities that can be transformed for examples, and box 2 for processes to develop a to increase productivity and earnings, as well as new project of value chain integration). Common features Figure 15. Support for project-identified businesses Macrofranchising Value chain assessment Sectoral studies Consultations with stakeholders Identification of Idea Identification of business business/ Contact SUPPORT opportunities individual needs Current Business plan business Eligible individual or group of individuals Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Table 4. Examples of project-identified models Specifications for Constraints Implementation very vulnerable/ Model General description addressed considerations self-employed Examples Value Refers to all activities and ∎∎ Access to mar- ∎∎ Mapping a ∎∎ Aggregated busi- ∎∎ Green chain services that bring a product kets and net- value chain is nesses are often World approach (or service) from conception works time intensive necessary for Bayer Crop to end use in a particular ∎∎ Information and costly farmers/self-em- Science industry. The focus is on the asymmetries ∎∎ Extensive ployed to access a ∎∎ TechnoServ system, on end markets, and relationship value chain ∎∎ Transportation on relationships. Usually, this building ∎∎ Technical skills constraints approach upgrades business, required and quality must services, and communication at ∎∎ Business idea ∎∎ Because the be upgraded every level, using mostly existing generation focus is on ∎∎ Inclusion of liter- players. An opportunity exists to ∎∎ Product quality a specific acy and numeracy integrate the self-employed that sector and training, as well have been catering to the local value chain, it as psycho-social market. might exclude support some bene- ficiaries, due to industry needs Micro- Package interventions that ∎∎ Reduces risk ∎∎ Limited ∎∎ Inclusion of liter- ∎∎ Coca Cola franchising provide beneficiaries with from potential business scal- acy and numeracy manual comprehensive support to entrepreneurs ability in any training, as well distribution enable them to replicate existing ∎∎ Low business given sector as psycho-social centers 20 and proved business model and product. May include training, knowledge/ skills required ∎∎ Costs asso- ciated with support ∎∎ Basic accounting ∎∎ Girls Empow- access to finance, networking, product skills ered by ∎∎ Liquidity often mentoring, access to markets, advances lost Micro Fran- addressed ∎∎ Customer service and many other components. or damaged, chise Inter- through prod- skills Microfranchise opportunities and product national uct advances ∎∎ Pricing support allow self-employment with dissemination Rescue features of wage employment: ∎∎ Business idea/ Committee the microfranchisees do not product need to devise business models generation of their own but have minimal ∎∎ Vertical supervision and great autonomy. networking across different models are that the project selects intervention. An example of this approach is Techno- a potentially lucrative subsector or industry for Serve's Coffee Initiative, started in 2007. This value intervention, involves a large number of individuals, chain–strengthening program helps small-scale coffee facilitates the building of group-based social capital, farmers in East Africa boost their incomes by improv- and promotes public-private partnership. The value ing the quantity and quality of coffee produced. The chain approach works with an identified value chain project aims to increase yields through extension and in an industry (e.g., coffee, tourism, or marble). Ideally, training in good agricultural practices and to improve selection of the value chain is based on opportunity quality by helping farmers establish and operate for growth or a significant reduction in inefficien- rural processing facilities (“wet mills”). The model cies, and integrates self-employed individuals and enables achievement of these goals through hori- businesses up and down the value chain into the zontal integration of the farmers involved and better Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Box 2. Value chains: connecting to or moving within subsectors Value chains—also referred to as subsectors, clusters, or supply chains—are relevant for SSE programs for two reasons. First, many producers, particularly in farm and nonfarm activities, are connected in one way or another to these chains. In these cases, horizontal (between channels) or vertical movements within the chain can lead to gains in productivity and earnings. Second, for certain producers of tradable goods and services who are only operating in local markets, connecting to one of these subsectors can be an opportunity to expand sales and earnings. In fact, identifying the right value chains could be a precondition to make SSE programs viable and avoid saturating local markets and bringing down prices and earnings. Two important processes need to be considered when integrating SSE programs into value chains: (1) mapping the rel- evant subsectors, and (2) identifying the types of interventions needed to increase earnings (usually by reducing costs, improving quality, and/or increasing productivity). Mapping the relevant subsectors There are several methods and instruments to map markets. These methods are often based on interviews with key infor- mants to identify the main actors, their interactions, and their consumption and supply of different products. Since these specialized assessments are usually conducted by management consultants, trade associations, business development service agencies, government development agencies, and NGOs, program and project managers would need to mobilize the necessary expertise. It is important to note, however, that while in many assessments the entry point is a given prod- uct, in SSE programs the value chains would need to be selected/designed to be accessible to the target population of beneficiaries. In all cases, many producers of the same goods and services would need to be brought together—primarily because it is often through aggregation that the correct scale of the business can be achieved to compete within a given 21 value chain. Also, aggregation through associations, cooperatives, and firms reduces contact costs, because the program does not have to coordinate with businesses individually. Identifying interventions to create jobs and/or increase earnings Once the business areas to be aggregated and the relevant value chains have been identified, various alternative inter- ventions are possible. These will usually focus on one or more of the following: connecting beneficiaries to the value chains; improving production technologies to improve quality, reduce costs, and/or increase productivity; facilitating vertical or horizontal movements within the value chain; or collectively addressing bottlenecks and regulatory failures. The challenge is to get skills up to the quality standards required by the value chain and to identify viable business for the group. Traditionally, the value chain approach has mostly sought to address the constraints of those already in the value chain, or at its margins. To this end, it is important to identify a value chain that does not only have a high poten- tial for increased productivity, but already includes targeted groups. When trying to integrate new actors (the self-em- ployed) into a value chain, a comprehensive approach that includes entrepreneurship sensitization and business and technical skills development is needed. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship management of cooperatives, improved quality of the Figure 16. Different types and levels of skills coffee produced, installation of coffee wet mill facil- ities, the establishment and strengthening of market linkages between the cooperatives and the national value chains, and improving the enabling environment for coffee industry producers. ⇨ Business ll s skills 2 ski ⇨ ft So Vocational Business Defining core interventions skills skills 1 As discussed, four types of services characterize SSE ⇨ Literacy and Business awareness and numeracy programs: training of various types, access to capital financial literacy and other financial services, advisory services, and networking. Given a potentially highly heterogeneous group of beneficiaries and evidence of the effective- ness of comprehensive programs, it is unlikely that suc- be one of the most relevant among the low-skilled cessful SSE programs could focus on only one of these self-employed. These basic skills should be followed services. The findings indicate that the correct strategy by technical skills and advanced business skills. For is to offer an integrated package of services tailored each skill level, training in a complementary set of soft to beneficiary needs. A good profiling system for ben- skills—ranging from fostering confidence to improving eficiaries is therefore a precondition to structure the negotiation—needs to be implemented in order to package of services and avoid offering “off-the-shelf” improve effectiveness. 22 benefits. Financial services Training The goal in providing financial services is to ensure A general principle with regard to training services in that beneficiaries are able to fund working capital and SSE programs is to ensure that basic skills are acquired equipment, and have access to the relevant types of before moving up to higher-level skills (figure 16). Gaps insurance to protect incomes and equipment, and in literacy and numeracy within the population of cope with work-related accidents. In general, provision beneficiaries should be prioritized as this could be a of these services is beyond the scope of SSE programs. primary barrier to other skills acquisition.8 Entrepre- Instead, such programs would need to facilitate access neurial awareness is a set of skills training that enables to financial institutions that offer these services (e.g., subsistence farmers, indigenous groups, and other vul- microfinance institutions). Rather than simply linking nerable self-employed to begin seeing themselves, and individuals with institutions, programs should consider acting, as business people—an important prerequisite incorporating arrangements to ensure that the nec- to the development of business skills. In the same essary services are actually obtained. These arrange- vein, basic financial literacy can help individuals better ments could include assistance with applications, loan manage their limited resources. Although few SSE guarantees, and creditworthiness assessment,9 which programs currently offer this type of training, it could The African Youth Report documents that primary edu- 8 In Ethiopia, an SSE program uses psychometric testing to 9 cation can lead to 40 percent increases in earnings for the assess the creditworthiness of individuals and facilitate self-employed (Filmer and Fox 2014). their access to financial institutions. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship will likely entail working with both individuals and and communication technology). The advisors can be financial institutions (figure 17). experts in the subsector or other entrepreneurs or producers. Their basic role is to answer questions about When it comes to funding working capital and equip- any aspect of the business or refer the beneficiary ment, an alternative to credit is to provide grants in cash to the proper source. They could also be involved in and/or in kind. Grants would increase the cost of the monitoring implementation of different activities and program, but might be easier to administer while giving intervene when they feel corrections are needed. Many cash-strapped beneficiaries more financial flexibility. agricultural projects rely on lead farmers who receive Another alternative is crowdfunding, which was used extensive training on new techniques, products, and in a very small number of the reviewed programs; loan quality measures, or on business skills to disseminate guarantees might also facilitate access. These innovations what they learn to a community of farmers. Other proj- should be developed further and rigorously tested. ects use government extension services or more pro- fessional advisors. The right type of advisory services to Advisory services and networking offer will also depend on local conditions and business Unlike training programs which are offered at a given needs; multiple options could be offered. In addressing point in time and have a finite duration, advisory ser- the needs of the vulnerable self-employed, face-to- vices are typically offered on a continuous basis, at face and more hands-on approaches might be the best least during the first stages of program implementa- options. Such approaches might require having advisors tion. These services can take various forms, from very on the ground who monitor activities and are on call to hands-on to on demand only, virtual or face to face, help beneficiaries when needed. Over time, as benefi- and/or one to one or one to many (through information ciaries gain experience in the implementation of their activities and/or the management of their business, some of them could gradually begin to take on advisory 23 Figure 17. Access to finance decision tree responsibilities and help new entrants to the program. Access to Networking services can take a number of forms as finance well. Theoretically, networking services create two types of linkages: Linkage to outside services Direct provision ∎∎ Horizontal linkages. These describe relationships (credits, grants, (grants or credits) crowdfunding) between participants operating at the same stage of production. Horizontal linkages include associa- tions, cooperatives, and other forms of cooperation TA to lending institutions between potential competitors. For example, farm- Cash (e.g., innovations in ers who establish a formal or informal association creditworthiness assessment tools and in order to sell their products in larger quantities financial product In-kind structures) to a wholesaler would strengthen their horizontal linkages. Another example is labor unions of service Hands-on assistance for borrowers (e.g., with providers or manufacturers. applications, loan guarantees) ∎∎ Vertical linkages. These describe relationships Referral only between participants with adjacent roles who potentially add value to the same product at Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship different stages of production. Vertical linkages Governments would need to take the lead in the may include buying, selling, or contracting arrange- conceptualization, design, financing, supervision, and ments throughout the chain. For example, a farmer evaluation of SSE programs. Large firms, employer gaining access to a wholesaler will strengthen ver- associations, and trade associations can find win-win tical linkages, as will a shoemaker who is connect- opportunities in helping relevant subsectors and value ing to a leather supplier. Vertical linkages do not chains in a given region and for the targeted popula- include supporting service providers such as banks tion of beneficiaries. A large credit card company in or insurance companies, as these do not directly the Republic of Korea, for instance, built infrastructure add value to a product itself. for traditional vendors with local government coordi- nation. Part of the infrastructure included equipment While horizontal linkages are often facilitated through for financial transactions and a credit card processor. SSE programs, few programs include vertical linkages. Some NGOs and groups of social entrepreneurs (e.g., The value chain inclusion model discussed above has Ashoka) have developed an expertise in mapping great potential in creating vertical linkages. or developing subsectors in low-income settings— including through the organization of international competitions to find the best ideas to solve a prob- Choosing delivery options lem or develop a business. NGOs could also play an important role, along with the for-profit private sector, The type of institutional arrangements needed to in service provision. Communities and civil society can execute the various business processes described play a critical role in identifying and mobilizing bene- above—profiling and assessing the constraints facing ficiaries, assessing business opportunities and needs, beneficiaries, assessing market demand for nontrad- and monitoring and evaluation. 24 able goods and services, mapping subsectors and value chains, and offering various types of services—is an important policy consideration. Four actors comprise the main institutional choices: government (either a social ministry responsible for safety net programs 5 Concluding remarks and social services or an industry ministry responsible Self-employment is the most common type of employ- for business development and competitiveness), the ment worldwide—and for many, the only alternative. A private sector (for profit), NGOs and social entrepre- majority of the self-employed—farmers and own-ac- neurs, and civil society (table 5). count workers—are engaged in very low-productivity Table 5. Suggested implementation arrangements Assessing Management Identification, market and and targeting, mapping Selecting Identifying Delivering monitoring Actor profiling opportunities businesses services services and evaluation Government (social) +++ ++ +++ Government (industry) ++ ++ ++ + Private sector +++ +++ +++ ++ NGOs/social entrepreneurs +++ +++ +++ +++ ++ Communities/civil society ++ + ++ ++ + + Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship activities and live in poor households. Simply relin- Blattman, C., N. Fiala, and S. Martinez. 2013. “Credit Con- straints, Occupational Choice, and the Process of quishing the self-employed to social safety nets may Development: Long Run Evidence from Cash Transfers not be sufficient to improve their standards of living. in Uganda.” SSRN Scholarly Paper. Programs that support the self-employed and small- Bloom, N., and J. Van Reenen. 2007. “Measuring and Explain- scale entrepreneurs in improving their livelihoods can ing Management Practices across Firms and Countries.” be an important complementary intervention. Quarterly Journal of Economics 122 (4): 1341–408. —. 2010. “Why Do Management Practices Differ across Unfortunately, limited evidence exists regarding the Firms and Countries?” Journal of Economic Perspec- impact and effectiveness of these programs, as well as tives 24 (1): 203–24. the best way to design and implement them. Most of Bowen, H. P., and D. De Clercq. 2008. “Institutional Context the programs that have been evaluated are small pilots, and the Allocation of Entrepreneurial Effort.” Journal of and the results are mixed. There are also questions International Business Studies 39 (4): 747–67. about the external validity of these results and whether Cho, Y., and M. Honorati. 2014. “Entrepreneurship Programs effects would persist if programs were scaled up. in Developing Countries: A Meta-Regression Approach.” Labour Economics 28 (C): 110–30. Governments need to continue experimenting with Cho, Y., D. Robalino, and J. Romero. 2014. “Entering and Leav- SSE programs targeted to subsistence entrepreneurs. ing Self Employment: An Analysis of Panel Data in 12 Developing Countries.” World Bank, Washington, DC. A more systematic and rigorous approach to their design, implementation, and evaluation should be Cho, Y., D. Kalomba, A. M. Mobarak, and V. Orozco. 2013. adopted. Research and policy analysis should focus “Gender Differences in the Effects of Vocational Train- ing: Constraints on Women and Drop-out Behavior.” on profiling instruments to better understand bene- IZA Discussion Paper 7408, IZA, Bonn. ficiary characteristics and constraints, mechanisms to identify business opportunities, guidelines to design Conley, T., and C. Udry. 2010. “Learning about a New Tech- 25 nology: Pineapple in Ghana.” American Economic and combine interventions tailored to different bene- Review 100 (1). ficiaries, the effectiveness of various implementation de Mel, S., D. McKenzie, and C. Woodruff. 2008. “Who Are arrangements, and their cost-effectiveness and sus- the Microenterprise Owners: Evidence from Sri Lanka tainability. on Tokman v. de Soto.” BREAD Working Paper 174, Bureau for Research in Economic Analysis of Develop- ment, Durham, NC. Develi, E. I. 2011. “Entrepreneurship and Importance of Per- References sonality on Entrepreneurship: A Research on Trainees of Entrepreneurship Education Program.” International Ashraf, N., D. Karlan, and W. Yin. 2008. “Female Empower- Journal of Business and Management Studies 3 (1). ment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines.” Center Discussion Paper 949, Economic Drexler, A., G. Fischer, and A. Schoar. 2011. “Keeping It Simple: Growth Center, Yale University, New Haven. Financial Literacy and Rules of Thumb.” Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, Cambridge, MA. Ashraf, N., G. Fink, and D. Weil. 2010. “Evaluating the Effects of Large Scale Health Interventions in Developing Duflo, E., M. Kremer, and J. Robinson. 2011. “Nudging Farmers Countries: The Zambian Malaria Initiative.” Working to Use Fertilizer: Theory and Experimental Evidence from Paper 16069, National Bureau of Economic Research, Kenya.” American Economic Review 101 (6): 2350–90. Cambridge, MA. Fafchamps, M., D. McKenzie, S. R. Quinn, and C. Woodruff. Bauchet, J., C. Marshall, L. Starita, J. Thomas, and A. Yalouris. 2011. “When Is Capital Enough to Get Female Microen- 2011. Latest Findings from Randomized Evaluations of terprises Growing? Evidence from a Randomized Exper- Microfinance. Access to Finance Forum No. 2. Washing- iment in Ghana.” NBER Working Paper 17207, National ton, DC: Consultative Group to Assist the Poor. Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Fafchamps, M., and C. Woodruff. 2012. “Identifying Gazelles: McKenzie, D., and C. Woodruff. 2012. “What Are We Learning Expert Panels vs. Survey as a Means to Identify Firms from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evalua- with Rapid Growth Potential.” World Bank, Washington, tions around the Developing World?” Policy Research DC. Working Paper 6202, World Bank, Washington, DC. Filmer, D., and L. Fox. 2014. Youth Employment in Sub-Saha- Mobarak, A. M., and M. R. Rosenzweig. 2012. “Selling Formal ran Africa. Africa Development Series. Washington, DC: Insurance to the Informally Insured.” Center Discussion World Bank. Paper 1007, Economic Growth Center, Yale University, New Haven. Gindling, T. H., and D. L. Newhouse. 2014. “Self-Employment in the Developing World.” World Development 56 (C): Pierre, G., M. L. Sanchez-Puerta, A. Valerio, and T. Rajadel. 313–31. 2014. “STEP Skills Measurement Surveys: Innovative Tools for Assessing Skills.” World Bank, Washington, DC. Giné, X., and D. Yang. 2009. “Insurance, Credit, and Tech- nology Adoption: Field Experimental Evidence from Stam, W., S. Arzlanian, and T. Elfring. 2013. “Social Capi- Malawi.” Journal of Development Economics 89 (1): 1–11. tal of Entrepreneurs and Small Firm Performance: A Meta-Analysis of Contextual and Methodological Mod- Grimm, M., P. Knorringa, and J. 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Global Database of Programs. Washington, DC: World 26 Bank. Holzmann, R., F. Mulaj, and V. Perotti. 2013. Financial Capa- bility in Low-and Middle-Income Countries: Measure- Valerio, A., M. L. Sanchez-Puerta, G. Pierre., T. Rakade, and ment and Evaluation. Washington, DC: World Bank. S. M. Taborda. 2014. “STEP Skills Measurement: Snap- shot 2014.” World Bank, Washington, DC. Macours, K., P. Premand, and R. Vakis. 2012. “Transfers, Diver- sification and Household Risk Strategies: Experimental van Bastelaer, T. 2000. “Imperfect Information, Social Capi- Evidence with Lessons for Climate Change Adaptation.” tal, and the Poor's Access to Credit.” IRIS Working Paper Policy Research Working Paper 6053, World Bank, 234. Center on Institutional Reform and the Informal Washington, DC. Sector (IRIS), University of Maryland, College Park, MD. Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship Appendix: Assessing constraints to ground. Others conduct surveys and focus groups with self-employment and small-scale government officials, private sectors, and individuals entrepreneurship within the target group profile to obtain a snapshot from different perspectives of the local economic situ- ation. A third option entails hiring a firm to do a formal Many self-employed workers and entrepreneurs face study, such as a labor market assessment and demand constraints to succeeding in their livelihood activity; survey. Sometimes all three methods are utilized. The often, they face multiple and diverse constraints. The best approach to take depends on the current knowl- set of constraints may depend on the subpopulation edge of the country and the budget and time available. of entrepreneurs targeted. Some are common to all individuals in a country such as business or social envi- Programs should be adapted to address the con- ronment constraints; others affect subpopulations straints identified. The following should be taken into within a given country or region. An assessment of the account in determining how to prioritize constraints constraints faced by potential entrepreneurs planning for further assessment: to start a business, or by existing entrepreneurs already engaged in business activities, is critical in order to ∎∎ Those within the scope of the program (e.g., infra- design programs that adequately support them. structure may be the greatest constraint, but a short-term intervention for individual entrepre- Constraints faced by the self-employed are classified as neurs is unlikely to address it) either individual or environmental. Individual constraints are those that affect individuals and subpopulations and ∎∎ Degree to which it hinders business include lack of entrepreneurial traits, insufficient cog- nitive or noncognitive skills, and limited access to social ∎∎ Existing programs that address constraints with 27 which the present program might partner and capital. Environmental constraints are those that affect create synergy larger populations and are external to the individual. They include limited access to financial services, poor business ∎∎ Project budget environment, underdeveloped markets or limited access to markets, and other impeding cultural factors. ∎∎ Expertise of program staff to address constraint ∎∎ Time needed for assessment compared to the Of the many possible individual and environmental con- timeline of the program straints, task team leaders and project managers should identify those that are actually present and binding to ∎∎ Political issues the businesses of the target population in the target country, and then prioritize those found for full assess- ∎∎ Expected return on investment ment. There are several methods of identifying such constraints. Many task team leaders utilize previous The following two tables provide a list of commonly research or final reports from already implemented pro- used tools that assess constraints faced by the grams. Building on lessons learned and previous research self-employed and small-scale entrepreneurs. This makes for a solid understanding of the situation on the information is not intended to be exhaustive, but has been compiled to help World Bank task team lead- ers and practitioners find relevant information for This appendix was prepared by Yoonyoung Cho, Hyewon Kang, and Samantha Watson with inputs from Xavier Cirera conducting diagnostic assessment prior to designing and Leonardo Iacovone. entrepreneurship programs. Table A1. Tools for addressing individual constraints Constraint Methodology Tool Description Operational considerations Reference/link Raven’s Progressive ∎∎ Most popular and culturally fair nonverbal IQ ∎∎ Consists of 60 questions which are to be http://www.ouriq.us Matrices test test answered in 40 minutes ∎∎ Appropriate for measuring general intelligence ∎∎ Internet access required and psychometric evaluation ∎∎ Costs $5 to take the test Digit Span test ∎∎ Measures verbal working memory ability ∎∎ Respondent must recall, in order, a series of digits Examples at http://www. ∎∎ Measures ability of brain to hold onto infor- presented on screen cambridgebrainsciences. mation needed to complete complex tasks com/browse Test Frederick’s Cognitive ∎∎ Assesses ability to suppress spontaneous ∎∎ Consists of three questions, each of which http://www.sjdm. Reflection Test wrong answer in favor of correct answer respondent has 30 seconds to solve org/dmidi/Cognitive_ ∎∎ Measures time preference and risk preference Reflection_Test. html#Description Numerical Reasoning ∎∎ Assesses ability to understand statistical and ∎∎ Calculator and scrap paper can be used during http://www.kent. Test numerical data, as well as ability to make a log- the test ac.uk/careers/tests/ ical deductions ∎∎ Consists of 22 questions to be answered in 25 mathstest2.htm Basic skills ∎∎ Contains questions about ratios, percentage minutes increase/decrease, cost and sales analysis, rates and trends, and currency conversions STEP Skills ∎∎ One module assesses fundamental skills ∎∎ Some questions are bound to copy rights http://microdata. Measurement Survey (reading, writing, numeracy) by combining self- worldbank.org/index. report and tests php/catalog/step/about Programme for ∎∎ PIAAC measures literacy, numeracy, and ∎∎ Designed for developed countries http://nces.ed.gov/ the International problem solving in Organisation for Economic surveys/piaac/ Assessment of Adult Co-operation and Development countries Survey Competencies ∎∎ Education and Skills Online Assessment pro- (PIAAC); Education vides individual-level results comparable to and Skills Online PIAAC results, measuring cognitive and non- Assessment cognitive skills Literacy Assessment ∎∎ Assesses reading and numeracy skills in the ∎∎ Administered on paper http://www.uis.unesco. and Monitoring youth and adult population ∎∎ Available for eligible developing countries org/literacy/Pages/lamp- Programme (LAMP) literacy-assessment.aspx Business Practice ∎∎ Assesses 18 basic management practices on a ∎∎ Interview with entrepreneurs/firm managers Bloom and Van Reenen Evaluation Tool 5-point scale from worst to best practice (2007) Business Operations ∎∎ Collects information on the operations of ∎∎ Conducted annually by Statistics New Zealand http://www.stats.govt. Business Survey New Zealand businesses since 2005 nz/browse_for_stats/ Survey skills businesses/business_ ∎∎ Consists of four modules on business oper- ∎∎ Achieved response rate of 80 percent ations, innovation, business practices, skill growth_and_innovation/ ∎∎ Postal survey sent out in August to collect infor- business-operations- needs and recruitment mation for the last financial year survey-info-releases.aspx Table A1. Tools for addressing individual constraints (continued) Constraint Methodology Tool Description Operational considerations Reference/link Measurements for ∎∎ Measures a wide range of conditions to run ∎∎ Assesses key determinants of successful coopera- http://www.ocdc.coop/ Tracking Indicators of cooperatives, including financial profitability, tives based in the United States pdf/metrics.pdf Cooperative Success financial capital, financial management, gover- ∎∎ Provides information on business environment, (METRICS Survey) nance membership, governance management but does not cover economic and legal environ- (apex organization, cooperative federation, or ment in detail cooperative union), and business environment ∎∎ Combination of yes/no and essay questions Survey Ghana Enterprise ∎∎ Includes business management practices, busi- ∎∎ 335 business owners responded to the baseline http://www.poverty- Training Baseline ness registration, payment of taxes and social survey action.org/project/0447 Questionnaire by security, compliance with health and safety ∎∎ Baseline survey was conducted before the initial Business Fafchamps and regulations three-day business plan training course; a fol- skills Woodruff; business low-up survey was conducted two years later practices module Ghana Enterprise ∎∎ Panel of experts provides qualitative opinions ∎∎ 11 experts (e.g., successful business people, con- Fafchamps and Training by on entrepreneurs’ business skills and prospects sultants, loan officers) participated in panels Woodruff (2012) Fafchamps and for growth ∎∎ Each panel reviewed 15 written business plans Woodruff; panel and conducted 20–30-minute interviews with Expert assessment assessment business owners ∎∎ Panel ranked each entrepreneur on following criteria: written business plan, oral presentation, overall business acumen World Bank ∎∎ Study provides guidance on design and imple- ∎∎ Survey conducted through face-to-face, paper- https://www.finlitedu. Financial Capability mentation of financial literacy projects and-pencil interviews org/team-downloads/ Survey (Measuring ∎∎ Study developed new questionnaire and tool ∎∎ Focus group discussion included to identify issues measurement/ Financial Capability: kit; main questionnaire covers household and discuss money/resource management measuring- Financial Questionnaires and roster, role in managing money, day-to-day financial-capability- Survey literacy Implementation money management, planning and financial questionnaires-and- Guidance for Low- products, motivations, sources of income, and implementation- and Middle-Income general questions guidance-for-low- Countries) and-middle-income- countries.pdf Table A1. Tools for addressing individual constraints (continued) Constraint Methodology Tool Description Operational considerations Reference/link Big 5 Personality Test ∎∎ Commonly used in academic psychology ∎∎ Web-based survey of 50 questions; takes 5–7 http://personality- ∎∎ Big 5 personality traits: openness, conscien- minutes to complete testing.info/tests/BIG5. tiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and ∎∎ Respondent provides ratings from 1 (strongly dis- php neuroticism agree) to 5 (strongly agree) to statements in order identify personality ∎∎ Test allows respondents to compare their per- sonality to others Connor-Davidson ∎∎ Commonly used test in measuring ability to ∎∎ Booklet containing demographic questions and http://www. Resilience Scale cope with stress and adversity the CD-RISC are provided to respondents, with connordavidson- (CD-RISC) ∎∎ Initially designed for psychological treatment, a request to return completed questionnaires resiliencescale.com/ but now used for broader purposes within a week cd-risc/translations. ∎∎ Consists of 25-item (5–10 minutes to complete), shtml 10-item (1–5 minutes), and 2-item (1–5 minutes) seg- ments covering psychometric properties ∎∎ Each item is rated on a scale of 0–4, with higher Test scores reflecting greater resilience Open Psychometric ∎∎ Tests inductive reasoning, verbal reasoning, ∎∎ Each module includes an explanation of test http://www. Noncogni- Test Resource numerical reasoning, Big 5 traits, interpersonal rationale and use psychometrictest.org.uk tive skills skills, resilience, entrepreneurism, leadership, and 16 personality factors Clifton ∎∎ Test based on strengths-based psychology ∎∎ Online StrengthsFinder assessment http://strengths.gallup. StrengthsFinder ∎∎ Test uses an inventory of 34 “themes” to help ∎∎ Test consists of 170 questions, with responses com/110440/about- people discover their talents from 1 (totally disagree) to 9 (totally agree) strengthsfinder-20.aspx Center for Rural ∎∎ Test developed to assess individual entrepre- ∎∎ Test consists of 32 questions, with responses http://www.tvaed.com/ Entrepreneurship’s neurial potential from 1 (no agreement) to 10 (strong agreement) pdf/entrepreneur_self_ Entrepreneur Self Test ∎∎ Questions are straightforward and short ∎∎ Each question has different value and weight test.pdf Entrepreneurial ∎∎ Comprehensive online data collection includ- ∎∎ Knowledge center on webpage introduces publi- http://www.eflglobal. Finance Lab ing articles and psychometric tests to measure cations regarding the use of psychometric tests in com entrepreneurs’ ethics and character, intelli- entrepreneurship gence, attitudes and beliefs, and business skills STEP Skills ∎∎ Socio-emotional skills modules assess ∎∎ Response categories range from 1 (almost never) http://microdata. Measurement Survey non-cognitive skills to 4 (almost always) worldbank.org/index. Survey php/catalog/step/about ∎∎ Besides Big 5 personality traits, adds measure- ment for grit, hostile bias, and decision making Table A1. Tools for addressing individual constraints (continued) Constraint Methodology Tool Description Operational considerations Reference/link Startup Confidence ∎∎ Measures entrepreneurs’ confidence in their ∎∎ An email is sent to business owners to access the http://www.kauffman. Index Survey business as well as in the national economic survey org/multimedia/ climate infographics/2013/ ∎∎ Focuses on newly incorporated businesses kauffman-legalzoom- startup-confidence- index-2013 Global ∎∎ Annual assessment of entrepreneurial activity, ∎∎ Landline-based survey or face-to-face interview http://www. Entrepreneurship aspirations, and attitudes of individuals across approach is possible gemconsortium. Monitor’s Adult a wide range of countries ∎∎ Instrument requires a minimum of 2,000 partici- org/docs/cat/135/ Population Survey ∎∎ Survey for nascent and existing entrepreneurs pants (entrepreneurs, managers, investors) to take questionnaires as well as investors and owner-managers part in the survey ∎∎ Includes a few questions addressing market assessment ability and technology Noncogni- Survey Cole, Sampson, ∎∎ Measures household financial literacy and ∎∎ Study conducted novel surveys primarily measur- http://www.hbs.edu/ tive skills and Zia survey on demand for financial services ing household financial literacy faculty/Publication%20 financial service in ∎∎ Also captures other household characteristics ∎∎ In a randomized field experiment, individuals are Files/09-117.pdf Indonesia and India that may be important determinants in becom- randomly offered small subsidies for opening (risk aversion) ing an entrepreneur such as risk aversion a bank account; study compares the effect of ∎∎ To measure risk aversion, study used actual financial literacy education to price subsidies lotteries, for real amounts of money. Ashraf, Karlan, and ∎∎ Study tests whether individuals would open ∎∎ Using randomized control methodology, study http://karlan.yale.edu/p/ Yin (2008) survey on a saving account with a commitment feature evaluates the effectiveness of a commitment sav- SEED.pdf saving products in that restricts their access to their funds ings account on financial savings in the Philippines the Philippines ∎∎ Survey tests whether individuals have a ∎∎ Study conducted a baseline survey on 1,777 exist- (time preference) preference over near-term trade-offs or not; ing or former clients of a bank. One month later, this preference in hypothetical time reveals 720 clients were randomly offered the commit- people’s economic characteristics ment product Social Capital ∎∎ Integrated quantitative/qualitative tool; key ∎∎ Typical application takes 3–4 months http://go.worldbank. Assessment Tool components are surveys; information inter- ∎∎ When implementing, sociological or anthropo- org/KO0QFVW770 views; focus groups at the household, commu- logical training is helpful, in particular a sound nity, and organizational levels understanding of formal and informal institutions ∎∎ Main components are community profile and and networks Social asset mapping—interview guide, community Survey capital questionnaire, household questionnaire, orga- nizational profile interview guides, organiza- tional profile score sheet ∎∎ Complementary tools include stakeholder analysis, institutional analysis, social impact analysis, beneficiary assessments Table A1. Tools for addressing individual constraints (continued) Constraint Methodology Tool Description Operational considerations Reference/link STEP Skills ∎∎ One module assesses job-relevant skills such ∎∎ The survey consists of household survey and http://microdata. Measurement Survey as computer use, contact with clients, solv- employer survey worldbank.org/index. ing and learning at work, and autonomy and ∎∎ Household survey: Door-to-door survey, It takes php/catalog/step/about repetitiveness 2 hours to complete the full survey ∎∎ The household survey includes retrospective ∎∎ Employer survey: Door-to-door survey, It takes 45 questions regarding job history and experience minute to complete the survey in education and training ∎∎ Some questions are bound to copy rights ∎∎ The employer survey provides information on training and compensation Talent Shortage ∎∎ Survey reflects employer perspective when ∎∎ Phone interview with employers http://www. Survey looking for skilled labor ∎∎ Survey has been conducted with nearly 40,000 manpowergroup.com/ ∎∎ Survey identifies which industries/job posi- employers in 42 countries across Europe, the wps/wcm/connect/ Technical manpowergroup-en/ Survey tions need certain skills (e.g., hard skills: Middle East, and Africa, the Americas, and Asia skills home/thought- computer/information technology, speaking/ Pacific since 2006 verbal, foreign language; soft skills: interper- leadership/ sonal skills, motivation, teamwork, profession- research-insights/ alism, ability to deal with complexity, problem talent-sources/2013- solving) talent-shortage#. U1mIMVVdWk0 ∎∎ Topics covered: (1) if employers are experienc- ing talent shortages in their respective organi- zation, (2) which positions do they find most difficult to fill, (3) why open positions in their organizations remain difficult to fill, (4) how talent shortages are affecting the client-fac- ing abilities of their organizations, (5) what employers do to secure the skills they need Table A2. Tools for addressing environmental constraints Constraint Methodology Tool Description Operational considerations Reference/link The FinScope survey ∎∎ Measures level of access to financial service across Surveys have been conducted in 14 Sub- http://www.finscope. income ranges and demographics among adults. Saharan African countries, Pakistan, and co.za/finscope/pages/ ∎∎ Modules include (1) financial needs and/or demands; Thailand default.aspx (2) financial perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors; Financial (3) obstacles faced and factors that have an influence service on financial situation; (4) current levels of access to, and utilization of, financial services and products (formal and/or informal); (5) landscape of access (i.e., types of products used in terms of transactions, savings, credit, insurance, and remittances); (6) barriers to utilization of, and access to, financial products and services Thumbtack Small ∎∎ Survey measures state’s friendliness toward business Conducted in the United States only http://www.thumbtack. Business Friendliness ∎∎ Covers a large range of business environment topics, i.e., com/media/survey/2013/ Survey (1) state and local government overall support of small friendliness/v1/ businesses, (2) health insurance regulations, (3) training ThumbtackMethodology programs and online resources, (4) status of respon- Paper2013.pdf Survey dents’ businesses and general economic conditions. Cooperative Law & ∎∎ Provides information on cooperative laws, regulations, Regulation and interpretation may require http://www.ocdc.coop/ Regulation Initiative and analytical documents enabling environments for a local lawyer pdf/enabling_coop_ (CLARITY) cooperative development dev_english.pdf ∎∎ Also provides information on history of the develop- ment of cooperative laws and a set of contacts and cita- tions to relevant resources Regulatory Doing Business ∎∎ Provides an ease-of-doing-business index showing which Focuses on regulatory aspects of doing http://www. and legal country provides a regulatory environment conducive to business; does not include information on doingbusiness.org/ environ- the start and operation of a local firm social and cultural environment ment ∎∎ Specific modules cover starting a business, dealing with construction permits, obtaining electricity, registering property, obtaining credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, employing workers, and entrepreneurship The National Expert ∎∎ Receives qualified opinions from experts ∎∎ Face-to-face interviews with experts, http://www. Survey (NES) ∎∎ Administered to a minimum of 36 experts in each who must be residents of the target or gemconsortium.org/ country, measuring nine key entrepreneurial framework region docs/download/2375 Others conditions: finance, government policies, government ∎∎ Potential experts are first identified, programs, entrepreneurial education and training, R&D contacted, and an appointment sched- transfer, commercial and professional infrastructure, uled; the project is then presented and openness of internal market, physical infrastructure and the interview conducted services, and cultural and social norms Table A2. Tools for addressing environmental constraints (continued) Constraint Methodology Tool Description Operational considerations Reference/link The National Expert ∎∎ Same as above ∎∎ Face-to-face interviews http://www. Survey (NES) ∎∎ Questionnaire includes nine open- gemconsortium.org/ ended responses: three factors that Data-Collection#NES respondents consider to inhibit or con- strain entrepreneurship in their country, three factors that enhance or support entrepreneurship in their country, and three recommendations to improve the Survey entrepreneurial framework FinScope Mobile Banking ∎∎ Surveys users and non-users of mobile banking services ∎∎ Telephone interviews were conducted http://www.finscope. Survey with respect to accessibility of the technology with users of mobile banking services co.za/finscope/pages/ ∎∎ Findings from the pilot project suggest that mobile ∎∎ Face-to-face in-home interviews were Initiatives/Mobile-Banking. banking is convenient for users living relatively far away conducted with non-users aspx?randomID=dbb25b1b- Infrastruc- from banking services e02f-496e-a28b- ture 6e6dc9822ebb& linkPath=3&lID=3_2 Tools for Making ∎∎ Introduces existing infrastructure tools (transportation, ∎∎ Sample of Gender-Responsive Public http://web.worldbank. Infrastructure Work for information and communication technology [ICT]) and Transportation User Survey: takes 5–10 org/WBSITE/ Women and Men best practices in gender issues minutes to complete; questions are EXTERNAL/TOPICS/ ∎∎ Each infrastructure toolkit suggests indicators measuring on how transportation and market EXTSOCIAL how transportation/ICT increases entrepreneurship and improvement increase productivity in DEVELOPMENT/ Others productivity business; transportation mode, route, 0,,contentMDK:22512733~ time, and cost are measured pagePK:148956~piPK: ∎∎ Other indicators suggested in the ICT 216618~theSitePK: toolkit are modern and traditional ICT 244363,00.html access and use, ICT content, employ- ment, ICT entrepreneurship, education Table A2. Tools for addressing environmental constraints (continued) Constraint Methodology Tool Description Operational considerations Reference/link Worldwide Governance ∎∎ Indicators measure quality of governance for 215 econ- ∎∎ The WGI compiles and summarizes http://info.worldbank. Indicators (WGI) omies information from 31 existing data org/governance/wgi/ ∎∎ Six dimensions of governance are (1) voice and external sources, but those related to entrepre- index.aspx#home accountability, (2) political stability and lack of violence, neurship are limited: Business Enterprise (3) government effectiveness, (4) lack of regulatory Environment Survey, Global Insight burden, (5) rule of law, (6) control of corruption Business Condition and Risk Indicators ∎∎ Governance measures relevant for entrepreneurs are lack of regulatory burden and control of corruption Corruption Perception ∎∎ Measures perception toward corruption in a country’s ∎∎ 2013 index scored 177 countries http://cpi.transparency. Index public sector ∎∎ The Business Integrity Toolkit is a six- org/cpi2013/ Govern- ∎∎ Includes Business Integrity Toolkit that assesses and step process for building an effective ment monitors corruption issues in business anti-corruption program. The steps are capacity/ (1) commit to the program, (2) assess corruption the current status, (3) plan the anti-cor- ruption program, (4) act on the plan, Survey (5) monitor progress, and (6) report World Value Survey ∎∎ Asks questions about social and political change in a ∎∎ Conducted via face-to-face interviews http://www. country ∎∎ Topics include survival and well-being, worldvaluessurvey.org/ ∎∎ Survey has been conducted in about 60 countries authority, postmaterialist and material- index_html around the world ist, culture and happiness, civil liberties ∎∎ The 6th wave, which was carried out in 2010–14, will pro- and political rights, gender vide a 30-year time series ∎∎ Questions related to government engagement are limited to ownership and management of business Measurements for ∎∎ Uniquely assess key determinants of successful coop- ∎∎ Eight organizations were chosen for http://www.ocdc.coop/ Tracking Indicators of eratives gathering data; each appointed a lead pdf/metrics.pdf Cooperative Success ∎∎ Questions are easy to understand field person to administer the ques- Market (METRICS Survey) tionnaire ∎∎ Questions regarding access to market are included ∎∎ Majority of questions are yes/no; some required written answers Table A2. Tools for addressing environmental constraints (continued) Constraint Methodology Tool Description Operational considerations Reference/link Ensuring Demand-Driven ∎∎ Provides guidelines on market assessment ∎∎ Guidelines covered are (1) assemble http://lokalnirazvoj. Youth Training Programs: advisors, (2) set goals, (3) devise key rs/assets/files/Baza_ How to Conduct an research questions, (4) identify target znanja/Zaposljavanje_ Effective Labor Market sectors, (5) conduct field research, (6) mladih/Guide%20 Assessment review and vet findings, (7) design the to%20Youth%20Labor_ program, and (8) recheck (and redesign) Market_Assessment%20 International%20 Youth%20Foundation. pdf Market A Handbook for Value ∎∎ Addresses key concepts and provides a methodology for ∎∎ Methodology recommends (1) point of http://www.prism.uct. Chain Research undertaking value chain analysis and for understanding entry for value chain analysis, (2) map- ac.za/papers/vchnov01. input-output relationships ping value chains, (3) product segments pdf ∎∎ Provides guidance on value chain analysis, access to final and critical success factors in final market, and the role of small and medium-size enter- markets, (4) how producers access final prises (SMEs) markets, (5) benchmarking production efficiency, (6) governance of value Others chains, (7) upgrading in value chains, and (8) distributional issues Toolkits for female There are six well-known toolkits including best practices ∎∎ Most comprehensive clearinghouse on http://web.worldbank. entrepreneurship and sample indicators: the topic of female entrepreneurship org/WBSITE/ published by World ∎∎ Module 1. Female Entrepreneurship Resource Point ∎∎ Each paper introduces sample survey EXTERNAL/TOPICS/ Bank’s Gender and ∎∎ Module 2. Measuring human capital for entrepreneur- questions which cover financial access, EXTGENDER/ Development Group ship Program business management, entrepreneurial 0,,contentMDK: traits, and input of firms 23392638~pagePK: ∎∎ Module 3. What are the top four business regulatory 210058~piPK: environment indicators for measuring constraints faced 210062~theSitePK: Gender by women leading SMEs? 336868,00.html ∎∎ Module 4. Measuring Access to Finance for Small-Scale Enterprises ∎∎ Module 5. Measures of agency and non-cognitive skills in SMEs ∎∎ Module 6. Understanding profitability for micro and small entrepreneurs