The Impacts of Microfranchising on Young Women in Nairobi

Abstract

The authors evaluated 2 interventions that eased credit constraints in slightly different ways: a multifaceted ‘microfranchising’ programme eased both financial and human capital constraints by providing training and physical capital to recipients, an unrestricted cash grant of comparable value more directly eased credit constraints. Both interventions led to persistent increases in self-employment and had economically large and statistically significant impacts on income over the medium-term (7 to 10 months after intervention). However, the impacts on income diminished over time. This research was funded under the Private Enterprise Development in Low Income Countries (PEDL) Programme