Long-Term and Lasting Impacts of Personal Initiative Training on Entrepreneurial Success

A randomized experiment in Togo found that personal initiative training for small businesses resulted in large and significant impacts for both men and women after two years. We revisit these entrepreneurs after seven years and find long-lasting average impacts of personal initiative training of $91-higher profits per month, which is larger than the two-year impacts. However, these long-term impacts are very different for men and women: The impact for men grows over time as they accumulate more capital and increase self-efficacy, whereas the impact for women is flat or declines, and capital buildup is much more limited. (JEL J16, J24, L25, L26, M53, O12, O14)