James Mensah, Kvame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology Kumasi-Ghana: "Effects of business management training on performance of street food enterprises in Ghana: Evidence from randomized field experiment"

Abstract

Is lack or inadequate managerial capital a binding constraint to the performance of micro and small scale enterprises in Ghana? To answer this question we estimate the effects of business management training on the practices and business results of street food enterprises using a randomized field experiment of a freely a freely offered entrepreneurship and business management course in Kumasi and Tamale metropolises of Ghana. Our results show that training improves overall practices of treated vendors in the short run with the effects being specifically stronger in terms of record management and customer relationship skills of vendors. In terms of effects on business results, training improved daily profits by 18% albeit the effect is statistically weak. Improvements in profit seem to work through vendors’ ability to reduce their daily operating costs. We do not find any significant effect of training on amounts saved, value of business assets and sales revenue.