MUJER-IA: A Randomized Evaluation of AI-Enabled Business Coaching for Women-Led Micro and Small Enterprises in the Dominican Republic

Last registered on October 07, 2026

Pre-Trial

General Information

Title

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0019854

Initial registration date

October 01, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

October 07, 2026, 10:35 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name

Flor Berenice Fortuna Terrero

Affiliation

Cef Santo Domingo

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Tiziana Rupp López

PI Affiliation

Cef Santo Domingo

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2026-11-01

End date

2027-08-08

Keywords

Finance & Microfinance, Firms & Productivity, Gender

Additional Keywords

Gender, women entrepreneurs, artificial intelligence, digital financial, microenterprises

JEL code(s)

J16, L26, M53, O33

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Official Dominican data show that women match men in digital access but lag in the financial and commercial uses that sustain a business, and that most of this gap is not explained by education, income, or employment. This study evaluates MUJER-IA, a 16-week program implemented by CEF Santo Domingo that coaches owners of micro and small enterprises to integrate generative AI tools into concrete business processes. The evaluation has two phases: a feasibility pilot with 30 entrepreneurs and a randomized controlled trial with 120 entrepreneurs, 60 assigned to the program and 60 to a waitlist. Primary outcomes are integrated AI adoption and business practices; we also measure sales and profits (exploratory), digital skills, digital financial use, time use, and safety incidents. The trial also tests whether the program benefits firms with low baseline performance.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Fortuna Terrero, Flor Berenice and Tiziana Rupp López. 2026. "MUJER-IA: A Randomized Evaluation of AI-Enabled Business Coaching for Women-Led Micro and Small Enterprises in the Dominican Republic." AEA RCT Registry. October 07. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19854-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

MUJER-IA: a 16-week program with seven components—Map, Build capabilities, Prioritize use cases, Experiment, Safeguard, Measure, and Scale—combining a diagnostic, micro-learning, mentoring, a business experiment on a real process of the firm, a safety and privacy protocol, and a growth plan. It is delivered and certified by the Continuing Education unit of CEF Santo Domingo. Participants in both groups receive a mobile data subsidy for 16 weeks. The control group is waitlisted and receives the program after the six-month follow-up.

Intervention Start Date

2027-02-01

Intervention End Date

2027-06-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

(1) Integrated AI adoption index. (2) Business practices index.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Number of business processes in which AI is used with a documented and verified procedure, scored with a rubric applied to observable evidence. (2) The 26-practice battery covering marketing, buying and stock control, record keeping, and financial planning (McKenzie and Woodruff, 2017). Each index is the mean of its components standardized relative to the control group (Anderson, 2008).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Monthly sales and profits (exploratory; inverse hyperbolic sine, winsorized at the top 1%, averaged over three full survey rounds and three monthly phone rounds); advanced digital skills (practical test); use of digital payments and formal savings for the business (Global Findex questions); weekly hours devoted to the business and to care work, and work–care conflict; digital and entrepreneurial self-efficacy; critical errors and privacy or fraud incidents

Experimental Design

Two phases. Phase 1: a feasibility pilot with 30 entrepreneurs who receive the program, with pre–post measurement and no comparison group; they are not part of the trial sample. Phase 2: a two-arm randomized controlled trial with individual assignment in equal proportions (60 MUJER-IA and 60 waitlist), run in two to four cohorts. Surveys at baseline, endline (week 16), and six months after the program, plus three monthly phone rounds on sales and profits.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

Computer randomization with a recorded seed, within each cohort after the baseline survey, performed by a person not involved in implementation. Strata: baseline sales above or below the median and digital maturity (beginner, explorer, or optimizer).

Randomization Unit

Individual entrepreneur

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

120

Sample size: planned number of observations

120 entrepreneurs in the trial; about 140 will be recruited to allow for 15% attrition. In addition, 30 in the pilot, outside the trial sample.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

60 MUJER-IA; 60 waitlist control

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

0.43 standard deviations (two-sided α = 0.05, 80% power, R² of 0.3 explained by baseline); 0.36 with R² of 0.5. Adequate for the primary outcomes; sales and profits are treated as exploratory.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name

Research Ethics Committee, CEF Santo Domingo

IRB Approval Date

2026-07-06

IRB Approval Number

N/A

Analysis Plan