Training Microentrepreneurs over Zoom : Experimental Evidence from Mexico

Standard in-person business training programs are costly and difficult to scale to the millions of microenterprises in the developing world. The authors conducted an experiment to test the feasibility, cost-savings, and impact of delivering live training sessions over Zoom to microentrepreneurs in Mexico and Guatemala. This paper demonstrates that it is now feasible to recruit and train self-employed women online, covering a wide geographic area, with few technology issues. However, the cost savings over in-person classes are less than expected. Training improved business practices and performance over two months, but the impacts had dissipated within six months