Can light-touch accelerator programmes foster business performance? Evidence from ICT enterprises in Bangladesh
This project will conduct a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) to learn whether, and how, a bundle of light-touch business acceleration support program can help SMEs to grow in size, scope, productivity, and creativity. Learnings gathered from this piloting will enormously help design a full-scale RCT in the future, which will aid rigorous impact evaluation and support unbundling different components for design optimisation.
The ICT sector in Bangladesh is rapidly growing, creating high-skilled jobs for youth as well as diversifying the export base. However, so far there is limited evidence on the impact of business incubation and accelerator programmes on firm survival and growth. To fill this evidence gap, this research examines the impact of a light-touch business accelerator support programme in Bangladesh which consists of: mentoring, online training courses, and networking with investors and peer firms for ICT firms. By partnering with Startup Dhaka, the researchers will conduct a randomised controlled trial to understand the impact of the light-touch business acceleration support programme on SMEs growth in terms of size, scope, productivity, and creativity. The research findings will be useful to design large scale randomised controlled trials in the future, which will aid rigorous impact evaluation and support unbundling different components of design optimisation.