The impact of business mentoring programme
Overall, business mentoring has a significant but small size effect on employment, equivalent to an 2% increase compared to a comparison group not receiving business mentoring. There is a similar size effect on skills and a slightly smaller effect on wages and earning.
In what contexts are business mentoring programmes implemented?
Business mentoring programmes have been implemented in various contexts such as
- post-conflict environments
- humanitarian crises and economic downturns
- with adaptations like virtual platforms especially during the COVID-19 pandemic
- group training sessions and individual mentoring.
How are business mentoring programmes expected to work?
Business mentoring programmes are expected to increase youth employment by providing support to business establishment and development. They can do this by improving
- business skills
- knowledge about business practices such as registration
- providing business contacts including facilitating contracts
- enhancing financial access
Design choices for business mentoring interventions
Design choices include:
- eligibility criteria for mentors
- matching process for mentors and mentees
- mentor training and supervision
- structured versus unstructured mentoring
- material to be covered during mentoring
- the duration and frequency of mentoring
- the number of mentees per mentor
- individual or group mentoring
Implementation issues
Implementation issues in youth mentoring programmes include
- the scarcity of qualified mentors
- challenges in measuring monitoring mentoring and identifying successful or failing relationships
- difficulties in securing stakeholder support
- inefficiencies in mentor-mentee matching processes
- the need for better gender parity.
Strength of evidence
There is medium confidence in the evidence of effects (impact evaluations) and medium confidence in findings from implementation evidence (process evaluations).
Implications for research
More impact evaluations are needed, which can assess different design approaches including the need for longitudinal studies to understand the long-term impact of mentoring and sustain its benefits.
Evidence based findings for policy and practice
- Business mentoring has little effect, so more testing is needed of approaches which may be more effective
- Policymakers and practitioners should develop tailored mentoring programmes for female entrepreneurs, focusing on financing, technical skills, and business knowledge, while implementing robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks to track long-term impact and make necessary adjustments.
- Diverse mentoring formats, including virtual mentoring, should be explored to accommodate different preferences and contexts,