Suchergebnisse

AbstractWe study the impact of providing consulting services and major capital infusions to small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food sector in Kenya. We exploit a quasi‐experimental design that matches treated firms with comparable firms that applied for the same support but were just short of scoring sufficient points to receive this support. Using mixed methods, this quantitative analysis is supplemented by in‐depth qualitative interviews, which provide further insights into the workings of the program. The program helped SMEs launch new products and increased numbers of employees. Interviewees described higher sales resulting from the major capital infusions they received.

AbstractMany development programs rely on the idea that increasing profitability of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) could increase availability of nutritious foods among low‐income consumers. We designed a randomized controlled trial in which we made a specific nutritious product produced by an SME exhaustively available in low‐income local markets. We find that compared to control markets, consumers in treated markets purchased and consumed more of this product and less of competing brands with added sugar and fat. However, overall consumption for the product category was not increased and there was no change in the consumption of other related but potentially less nutritious foods. Our findings suggest the need for alternative policies to increase consumption of nutritious foods.