RESULTS SERIES CAN PSYCHOLOGY-BASED BUSINESS TRAINING HELP FOSTER WOMEN’S EARNINGS IN DIFFERENT SECTORS? THE CHALLENGE Scaling Togo’s personal initiative training for female entrepreneurs to Mozambique’s In Africa, female entrepreneurs earn 30 percent agricultural sector less than men for a variety of reasons, including skill gaps. Africa is the only region where women are more likely to be entrepreneurs than men; yet, on average, female-owned businesses in this region earn 30 percent less than male-owned businesses.1 There are several factors that contribute to these differences: one important factor is a gap in business skills. While THE INTERVENTION interventions tend to concentrate in improving female entrepreneurs’ technical and managerial skills, there Personal initiative (PI) training, which focuses on is growing evidence about gender gaps related to developing an entrepreneurial mindset, was offered socio-emotional skills such as ambition, creativity, to female entrepreneurs in Togo. It helped increase and innovation, which are correlated with successful their profits by 40 percent. entrepreneurship. With the support of the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality (UFGE), and in coordination with external academic partners, the World Bank’s Africa Gender RESULTS Innovation Lab (AFRGIL) partnered with the task team of the World Bank’s Togo Private Sector Development Support Project to implement and evaluate 35 World Bank projects across 24 countries psychology-based training aimed at developing the have incorporated PI training in their designs growth mindsets of entrepreneurs. This personal to increase the profits of female entrepreneurs. initiative (PI) training focused on developing a self- starting, future-oriented, and persevering mindset Among these, a project in Mozambique among entrepreneurs. It encouraged participants successfully adapted the initiative to the to think creatively and innovatively about their agriculture sector. businesses; anticipate and prepare for setbacks and new opportunities; and learn to see challenges as Female farmers that received PI training in opportunities to be embraced and overcome.2 Mozambique were more likely to engage in entrepreneurial activity beyond the farm. PI training also helped farmers increase the selling price and value of their harvest. 1  orld Bank. 2019. Profiting from Parity: Unlocking the Potential W of Women’s Businesses in Africa. 2 “Personal Initiative Training,” University of Lüneburg,  accessed April 2022, https://pi-training.org/. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) among 1500 mi- fostered greater investment and entrepreneurship, croentrepreneurs showed that the PI training resulted helping to increase the income of female farmers in a 40 percent increase in profits for female entrepre- and their households.4 PI training enhanced the neurs in Togo.3 Meanwhile, there was no significant effectiveness of a traditional agricultural extension impact on profits among female entrepreneurs who program, incentivizing adoption of cash crops, input received traditional business training. investment, and best farming practices that led to a greater overall value of the harvest sold. PI training Following the success of this intervention, a total of 35 also doubled the share of women running profitable World Bank projects across 24 countries (including two off-farm businesses, generating important additional regional projects), have incorporated elements of the income for their households. Offering PI training to PI training into their designs, as part of larger efforts female farmers helped their households transition to address barriers faced by female entrepreneurs. out of subsistence farming and into market-oriented Among these, Mozambique’s Integrated Growth Poles agriculture and off-farm businesses. Project adapted this intervention to the agricultural sector and offered PI training to female farmers The success of this intervention in Mozambique participating in an agricultural extension intervention. demonstrates the potential for PI training interventions to be replicated and adapted to different contexts A UFGE–funded impact evaluation conducted among and sectors, improving women’s access to better jobs 3,000 women in 150 rural communities showed that and increasing their earnings. offering PI training to female farmers in Mozambique 3  ollow-up surveys for the RCT were completed in 2016. F 4 Communities were randomly allocated into three groups of 50 communities each. The first group received training on agronomy and basic  business techniques; the second group received the same agronomy training plus PI training; the third group did not receive any training. The Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality is a World Bank Group multidonor trust fund investing in knowledge, diagnostics, impact evaluations and data to help policy makers and practitioners close gender gaps in countries and sectors. Learn more on www.worldbank.org/gender/ufge The Jobs Umbrella Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) supports the World Bank Group’s (WBG) jobs strategy to contribute to poverty reduction and inclusive growth. Its high-level objectives are to support WBG client countries in designing high-impact jobs strategies, and to advance global knowledge on effective jobs policies, especially for vulnerable groups. Learn more at: https://www.jobsanddevelopment.org/mdtf/.