Are Mobile Savings the Silver Bullet to Help Women Grow Their Businesses?

Bastian, Gautam ; Bianchi, Iacopo ; Buvinic, Mayra ; Goldstein, Markus ; Jaluka, Tanvi ; Knowles, James ; Montalvao, Joao ; Witoelar, Firman

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: MOBILE BANKING;    FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS;    WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS;    ACCESS TO FINANCE;    FINANCIAL INCLUSION;   

RP-ID  :  130417

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

In Tanzania and Indonesia, we promotedthe expansion of mobile savings accounts among womenmicro-entrepreneurs and provided them with business relatedtraining. In doing so, we simultaneously relaxed supply- anddemand side constraints to savings that women might face. Inboth countries, the training enhanced the impact ofpromoting mobile savings. In Indonesia it led women to savemore overall, including a nascent use of mobile accounts,and report greater decision making power within thehousehold. In Tanzania, it led to substantially highermobile savings, new businesses and products, more capitalinvestment, labor effort, and better business practices.However, these short-term impacts have yet to translate intohigher business profits. In Indonesia, we observe increasedhousehold welfare, but no discernible effects on businessoutcomes shortly after the training ended. In Tanzania, theincreased business investments were not accompanied bygreater profitability.