Direct Entrepreneur Grants

Direct entrepreneur grants are the policy tool tested through the [[YouWinProgram|YouWin Program]] in Piles of cash and a town of solutions in Kenya, Nigeria (Summer School). Instead of asking banks to lend to tiny firms without reliable records, the program gave screened entrepreneurs large grants that did not need to be repaid.

The source treats grants as a workaround for Small Business Financing Gap, not a full development recipe. Lariat Alhassan used her grant to hire staff and rent a showroom for Larklux Paint, but she still later struggled to access more finance, keeping the broader Missing Middle problem unresolved.

Key Claims

• Grants can relax capital constraints when promising firms cannot prove themselves to banks.
• Screening and training can improve the pool before money is allocated.
• Randomization made the YouWin grant effect measurable through Randomized Controlled Trials.
• Program continuity, later financing, and legal-financial infrastructure still matter after the first grant.

Connections

• Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Goodluck Jonathan, and David McKenzie - policy actors and setting.
• Evidence-Based Development Policy - evaluation and policy-learning frame.
• Asymmetric Information - reason banks may struggle to distinguish strong tiny firms from weak ones.