- International Growth Centre (IGC)
- Dr. Abu Shonchoy
- Dr. Israt Jahan
- Dr. Namrata Kala
- Neeti Zaman Bintee
- Md Hafiz Sikder
- Tanjina Akter Koly
MOMODa Foundation is working with Startup Dhaka on this research project to conduct baseline and end-line surveys. The study aims to figure out the critical research questions- (i) Why a large fraction of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) could never grow? (ii) What constraints SME growth and productivity, particularly in low- and middle-income countries? The intervention is “light-touch” business acceleration support that consists of (a) mentoring, (b) online training courses, and (c) networking with investors and peer firms. For the main study, MOMODa Foundation will randomly select 100 treatment firms and 100 control firms from the pool of eligible firms. MOMODa will collect cohort data from each batch during the baseline and follow-up survey. The research team has finished piloting the end-line questions with 30 firms. Among the 30 firms that participated in the baseline, 28 have completed the end-line survey. The baseline of the main research started on 1st August 2023.
The researchers would like to know why a lot of small and medium-sized businesses don’t grow much, and what stops them from becoming productive in lower and middle-income countries. They’re going to provide “light-touch” help with mentoring, online training, and connections to investors and other companies. They’ll randomly choose 200 businesses from the list of suitable ones, and then keep track of them before and after the intervention. MOMODa will be responsible for collecting the data.