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Business Collaborations and Female Entrepreneurship

Last registered on September 11, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Supporting Female Entrepreneurs During COVID 19
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006439
Initial registration date
September 11, 2020

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
September 11, 2020, 11:58 AM EDT

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

Last updated
September 11, 2020, 12:00 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Ghana
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Francesca Truffa
Affiliation
Northwestern University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Ashley Wong
PI Affiliation
Northwestern University
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PI Name
Monica Lambon-Quayefio
PI Affiliation
University of Ghana
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PI Name
Edward Asiedu
PI Affiliation
University of Ghana Business School
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2020-09-14
End date
2021-10-31
Keywords
Firms & Productivity, Gender
Additional Keywords
Networking, Legal Support, Female Entrepreneurs, SMEs
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has potentially large negative impacts on SMEs in developing countries. Female entrepreneurs of SMEs are especially vulnerable compared to their male counterparts as they are more likely to have smaller professional networks and limited regulatory knowledge that can hinder business growth, access to capital and take-up of government assistance.

In collaboration with the Women's Empowerment & Investment Group (WEIG), Annan Capital Partners (ACP), and GUBA Foundation, we conduct a field experiment in Ghana to investigate the effect of female professional networks and legal support on the business performance of women-owned small and medium enterprises. The study sample will consist of female entrepreneurs who have applied to the COVID-19 Stimulus Fund offered by our partners for business grants of $2,000-$5,000 between June 1st and August 31st 2020. The support programs will begin in October. Data will be collected by phone surveys beginning in September 2020, in six months and in one year. Additional novel real-time data on businesses will be collected through a mobile application.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Asiedu, Edward et al. 2020. "Supporting Female Entrepreneurs During COVID 19." AEA RCT Registry. September 11. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6439-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2020-10-12
Intervention End Date
2021-04-12

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Business performance
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We randomize the networking and legal support to 2400 female entrepreneurs who applied to the COVID 19 Stimulus Fund offered by our partner NGOs. This sample will be surveyed at baseline, after six months and in one year after the end of the intervention.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in Stata
Randomization Unit
Randomize at individual level into network groups, legal support, and control
Randomize at the group level whether the network group is networking only or mixed groups
Randomize at individual level which 50% will receive networking and legal support within each mixed group
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
200 Networking groups of 6 individuals (100 networking only groups, 100 mixed groups)
1200 individuals not in groups
Sample size: planned number of observations
2400 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
600 individuals control, 600 individuals legal support, 600 individuals in networking only groups of 6, 600 individuals in mixed networking groups of 6 (300 of these will receive legal support as well)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Northwestern University IRB
IRB Approval Date
2020-09-10
IRB Approval Number
STU00213476
IRB Name
University of Ghana Ethics Committee for the Humanities
IRB Approval Date
2020-08-28
IRB Approval Number
ECH 029/ 20-21
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials