A randomised control group study in Togo found that training to promote personal initiative among small business owners had a significant impact on both men and women after two years. Mona Mensmann and her co-authors revisited the entrepreneurs from the previous study after seven years and found that the average impact of the training to promote self-initiative led to a $91 increase in monthly profits in the long term, which is more than the impact after two years. However, these long-term effects vary depending on gender: After seven years, men increased their business profits by an average of 77% (compared to the control group average), while there was no longer a significant effect for women.
Mona Mensmann received her PhD from Leuphana University Lüneburg in 2017 and worked from 2018 as an assistant professor and later as an associate professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at Warwick Business School, UK. From 2021, she joined the WiSo faculty as Professor of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship. Her research focuses on the psychology of entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurial mindset and training for entrepreneurs. As part of her research, she develops and tests measures that help people think and act more entrepreneurially in order to drive economic and social change. Her research focuses primarily on low- and middle-income countries and disadvantaged population groups that benefit financially and socially from entrepreneurship (e.g., job seekers, refugees). Entrepreneurship is often the only way out of poverty.
The results of the long-term study impressively demonstrate how targeted training can strengthen entrepreneurial potential in the long term – and provide valuable impetus for the design of economic policy measures. We warmly congratulate WiSo Professor Mona Mensmann and her colleagues on this award.
