Testing the Promise of Digital Scaling: In-Person versus App-Based Training for Women Entrepreneurs

Abstract In-person business training is a key tool of development policy, with over US$1 billion spent annually in low- and middle-income countries. Digital training is gaining interest for its potential to increase impact, cost-effectiveness, and accessibility—particularly for women. This paper uses a randomized controlled trial to compare app-based and in-person training, using identical curricula, for women entrepreneurs. Take-up rates exceed 75 percent, but completion rates are only 22 percent for digital versus 71 percent for in-person. Further interventions fail to sustain engagement in digital training, and an additional experiment shows that removing in-person orientation leads to even lower take-up of digital training. Results indicate limited impacts on business knowledge or firm outcomes.