Standard business training programs aimto boost the incomes of the millions of self-employedbusiness owners in developing countries, by teachingaccounting, marketing and other basic business skills.However, research shows limited impacts of this traditionalbusiness training approach.Through an experiment in Togo,we introduced the personal initiative training program, anew and effective psychology-based entrepreneurship trainingthat outperforms traditional business training. The personalinitiative training increased firm profits in Togo by 30percent relative to a control group, compared to nosignificant impacts from a traditional business training.Personal initiative training led to more than just a boostin profits for micro entrepreneurs. After the trainingbusiness owners were more innovative, introduced newproducts, borrowed more and made larger investments. Thepersonal initiative training was particularly effective forfemale entrepreneurs, for whom traditional training hasoften been in effective. Women who received personalinitiative training saw their profits increase by 40percent, compared to 5 percent for traditional business.This study’s findings make a strong case for the role ofpsychology in better influencing how small business trainingprograms are taught in West Africa and beyond. It shows theimportance of developing an entrepreneurial mindset inaddition to learning the business practices of successfulentrepreneurs. Based on these promising results, thepersonal initiative training is being implemented inprograms in Mozambique, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Jamaica, and Mexico.
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