Soap Operas for for Female Micro Entrepreneur Training

We analyze the impact of the Strengthening Women Entrepreneurship in Peru (SWEP) program. SWEP trained female micro-entrepreneurs on business management practices (e.g. accounting, marketing, etc.). The training was provided in 4-5 hour sessions using soap operas and practical exercises specifically designed for the program. We conducted a field experiment among a group a micro-entrepreneurs based in two Peruvian cities (Lima and Piura) to investigate whether SWEP had a positive impact on its beneficiaries. Our results show the program positively affected the adoption of business practices taught by the program. In particular, those who received the training were 4-6 percentage points more likely to assign themselves a fixed salary (rather than taking cash from their businesses based on personal needs) and 6-11 percentage points more likely to keep better records of potential business contacts. We also find some positive impacts on the adoption of bookkeeping practices (4-6 percentage points), though this result is not significant across all of our specifications. While these changes in adoption rates were large compared to their baseline levels, they were rather small in absolute terms. Therefore, we do not find any impact on average business performance, household expenditures, or women empowerment in the household. Qualitative information suggests that micro entrepreneurs were satisfied with the training, but considered that many of the practices taught by the program were difficult to follow because of time constraints.