Business Grants Research Articles

Wyoming – Economic Diversification, the Creative Economy, and Wyoming Library Builds Business (LBB) Initiatives: Public, Academic & State Librarians in Collaboration with Innovators & Entrepreneurs

ABSTRACT In 2020, the American Library Association (ALA) announced the Libraries Build Business (LBB) grant initiative. Thirteen public library systems were selected to receive a total of $1.3 million to bolster their library’s entrepreneurial outreach. ALA and Google.org supported efforts to build capacity in libraries and library districts. Libraries in turn offered innovative programming, access to e-resources and developed services for local entrepreneurs and the business community. Libraries Build Business (LBB) objective was to identify library-led entrepreneurship models that would help lower-income and/or under-represented entrepreneurs, i.e. women and minorities to start and grow new businesses.

Do professional staff in universities really challenge academic norms? A perspective from the Netherlands

AbstractTraditionally, universities stand for independent, high-quality, and curiosity-driven research and education. Yet, since neoliberal reforms in the 1980s, they have been increasingly exposed to external pressures towards more efficiency and economic value orientation. To manage the tasks corresponding to these market-based values, a new and fast-growing group of professional staff has emerged. Some authors argue that they challenge academic norms, or academic professional logics, while importing market norms, or market logics, through previous employment in and current relationships with the private sector. We empirically test this assumption based on original survey data of three groups of professional staff of universities and associated medical centers in the Netherlands: business developers, grant advisers, and research policy officers. We asked them about their ideas about universities to capture their institutional logics. Respondents also indicated previous employment and the strength of their professional relationships. Using multiple linear regression models, we find that professional staff with private sector experience indeed have stronger market logics. We find the same for those with stronger relationships with private sector companies. Yet, on average, the academic professional logic of professional staff is considerably higher than their market logic. Additionally, the effect of private sector experience and stronger relationships with private sector companies on the market logic is moderate. Thus, our data suggests that professional staff do not challenge academic norms. Therefore, there seems to be little need for meeting them with skepticism regarding their role in unwanted organizational change.

Mitigating household psychosocial and economic impact of coronavirus pandemic in Mathare slums, Nairobi, Kenya: an initiative by the German doctors in Kenya.

The Psychosocial and Economic Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic in Mathare slums were adverse which necessitated mitigation strategies to be employed to cushion the most vulnerable and help them cope with the new 'state of affairs'. The pandemic was characterized by a surge in the respiratory infections, unemployment, households going hungry, gender-based violence in families, child abuse cases and increased rates of teenage pregnancy. Retrospective case study design was employed; secondary data from hospital departments were extracted for analysis from March 2020 to December 2021. Interventions in focus were health service provision, Gender based and child abuse services, food distribution, wet-feeding program, business grants and house rent grants. The most common burden faced by Mathare residents was food insecurity which was mitigated by giving 9,423 Patients' food baskets while 1,423 patients enrolled to the wet feeding program. Gender Based Violence services provided doubled in the year 2021 with physical and emotional violence being more common than sexual violence which was at 6.2%. Child abuse services were provided more in the year 2020 and 96 teenage mothers were assisted to go back to school. About 158 families received rent grants; which was a 30.4% increase from the year 2020. There was a 75.5% increase in the year 2021 of residents who received business grants. In a pandemic the effects are beyond health hence it is necessary to manage patients comprehensively using a multi-sectorial approach. However it is important to put regulations to avoid overdependence.

CARE program: NCI and FDA interagency collaborations to support oncology small business entrepreneurs.

The National Cancer Institute's Small Business Innovation Research Development Center (NCI SBIR) supports the commercialization of novel cancer-related technologies by providing resources to 300-400 small businesses each year. Whereas Federal funding is crucial for the translation of technologies to the clinic, the majority of these technologies will need to undergo regulatory review to reach clinical testing. Many small businesses find navigating their regulatory pathway challenging, largely due to lack of regulatory expertise on small startup teams with limited revenue. In collaboration with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), NCI SBIR launched a new regulatory assistance program called Connecting Awardees with Regulatory Experts (CARE). The goal of the CARE program is to connect NCI-funded small businesses with the FDA to receive feedback on their regulatory questions during early-stage product development. The program has a multipronged support approach and also educates companies about the FDA process and existing resources. To date, 141 companies have participated in the interagency program. Follow-up surveys indicate that the program guided the companies in planning the next regulatory steps for their technology development (89%) and provided critical information that changed their future NCI small business grant project aims (81%). Overall, companies reported they would recommend the program to other companies (90%). This paper will discuss the CARE program outcomes as well as other NCI and FDA collaborations that support early-stage small businesses, including the joint development of funding opportunities and online resources that focus on the oncology startup community.

INNOVATING INNOVATION: ADVANCING RACIAL EQUITY IN STEM ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMMING

In the 1980s, interest in entrepreneurship and innovation experienced significant growth in the United States. As a result, many federally funded programs were created to broaden support for entrepreneurship, from small business grants to entrepreneurship training programs. The increase and large-scale adoption of STEM entrepreneurship programs offers the unique opportunity to examine how these programs can seek to advance racial equity in STEM entrepreneurship programs. The goal of this study was to understand the experiences of racially minoritized participants in a STEM entrepreneurship training program (I-Corps), to identify ways to increase diversity and inclusion in the innovation pipeline. We examined the experiences of 13 racially minoritized academic researchers using semi-structured interview approaches grounded in intersectionality theory. The research question that guided this study was, How do racially minoritized academic researchers experience a STEM entrepreneurship training program? Four themes emerged from the data: 1) structural barriers impacted participant experiences; 2) the rigorous environment and intense climate had negative and positive impacts on participant experience; 3) entrepreneurial identity, mindset, and prior experience impacted participant experience and persistence in entrepreneurial programming; and 4) participants articulated specific takeaways and recommendations for the program. Overall, these findings offer STEM entrepreneurship programs insight into how to design supportive, effective, entrepreneurial, and innovative programs that encourage diversity and inclusivity for all.

Business grants following natural disasters and their different impact on the performance of female and male-owned microenterprises: Evidence from Sri Lanka.

This paper investigates gender differences in the treatment effects of business grants on firm performance following natural disasters, and seeks to identify the mechanisms underlying the unequal effects. A panel data-set from an experiment in Sri Lanka is used to measure the difference in the treatment effects of a business grant on the performance of female and male-owned firms following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The sample of 608 microenterprises includes 297 female-owned firms and 311 male-owned firms. There are 338 firms (Male = 176, Female = 162) in the treatment group that received the grant and 270 firms (Male = 135, Female = 135) in the control group that did not receive the grant. Data on firm performance, firm characteristics and owner characteristics were collected in 13 survey waves from April 2005 to December 2010. Firm performance, which is measured by firm profit, is assessed by employing linear regression with fixed effects in an intention-to-treat analysis. The results suggest that the business grant has a positive impact on the performance of male-owned firms, but zero effect on that of female-owned firms. Several potential mechanisms drive the results, including gender differences in business investment, household expenditure and initial business closures. The results also show a positive treatment effect of the business grant on the psychological recovery of recipients, but there is no evidence supporting gender differences in this dimension. This paper provides new evidence on gender differences in the treatment effects of business grants on firm performance in the context of post-disasters, and has implications for business recovery programs aimed at supporting female microentrepreneurs in the aftermath of large-scale catastrophes.

Інноваційні інструменти місцевого економічного розвитку

Розглянуто основні інноваційні інструменти місцевого економічного розвитку. Здійснено аналіз цих інструментів та обґрунтовано необхідність їх застосування в Україні на сучасному етапі. Виокремлено завдання, які необхідно виконати для підвищення ефективності та результативності використання інноваційних інструментів місцевого економічного розвитку.

Social support and risk-taking propensity as predictors of entrepreneurial intention among undergraduates in Nigeria

Purpose This paper aims to examine the determinants of entrepreneurial intention among students of a university in Nigeria, with particular emphasis on their risk-taking propensity, social support and demographic variables. Design/methodology/approach Data for the study were collected from 350 undergraduates across seven faculties in Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, through a self-reported questionnaire. Descriptive and regression statistical analysis were used to estimate and test the relationship among entrepreneurial intention and social support, risk-taking propensity and demographic variables. Findings The results showed high entrepreneurial intention among the students. The push factors, such as perceived social support from families, risk-taking propensity and previous engagement in business, are key determinants of entrepreneurship intention among the students. The age and father’s occupation also showed a significant relationship with the level of entrepreneurial intention. Practical implications This result suggests that strengthening social support for entrepreneurship among students could enhance their desire to own a business during and after graduation. Improving entrepreneurship ecosystems in the university could further motivate those already practicing entrepreneurship while also stimulating intentions among others. For instance, provision of entrepreneurship infrastructure and incentives such as business incubators, innovation hubs, science parks and competitive business grants could enhance the risk-taking propensity among students and motivate them for venture creation. Originality/value Understanding the influence of social support and risk-taking propensity on entrepreneurial intention among undergraduates is important for policy and practice. The result further reinforces the need to promote entrepreneurship education to create a critical mass of potential entrepreneurs in the university.

Success Factors in Equity Crowdfunding – Evidence from Crowdcube

Abstract Equity crowdfunding has been gaining more and more relevance as an alternative way for entrepreneurs to raise capital. This paper examines the impact of retained equity, business angel backing, grants and intellectual property rights on the success of equity crowdfunding. Using data from Crowdcube, one of the leading equity crowdfunding platforms in the world, we obtain 473 pitches within the period from March 2017 to February 2020. We apply three empirical methods to analyse our data set: logistic regression, multiple linear regression and negative binomial regression. By running univariate test and several regression analyses, we find that retained equity has a significantly negative impact on funding success; also, the support of business angels helps entrepreneurs to achieve a funding success. While winning grants is more likely to attract investors, there is no direct evidence associated with funding success. Furthermore, it turns out that intellectual property rights are not relevant for funding success. In an extension, we re-examine our analysis in the light of the Corona crisis by analysing 95 pitches from March to November 2020. We find no structural changes in relevance of the success factors.

Supporting Micro-enterprise in Humanitarian Programming: Impact Evaluation of Business Grants versus Unconditional Cash Transfer

Abstract Humanitarian programming in fragile economies often use unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) to offset food insecurity. However, there is an increasing focus on using cash transfers to boost household incomes beyond the short-term through micro-enterprise start-up and growth. This paper conducts a randomised control trial to measure the impact of three different sizes of business grants against UCT in Somalia. We find that giving the same amount of money as a lump sum business grant results in higher likelihood of business ownership and income compared with UCT in the short run (3–4 months after the transfers). However, the impacts are larger and persist 3 years later only for those who received larger amount of grants. The results indicate our ‘medium’-sized grant being more cost-effective.

Broken Promises - Evaluating an Incomplete Cash Transfer Program

Interventions in highly insecure and fragile contexts are always confronted with the latent risk of not being able to implement the program as intended. Despite its high policy relevance, little is known about the impacts of program disruption or cancellation on beneficiaries. This study uses the unplanned cancellation of the South Sudan Youth Business Start-Up Grant Program to assess the socioeconomic, behavioral, and psychological consequences of a program that fails to be implemented as intended. Originally planned as a randomized trial, the Youth Startup Business Grant Program consisted of an unconditional cash grant combined with a business and life skills training targeting the youth in South Sudan. Due to the intensification of violence in the country, the disbursement of the grant was terminated in late 2016 before most of the intended beneficiaries had accessed the grant. The study uses survey data from face-to-face interviews and experimental data from lotteries, trust games, and a list experiment to assess the consequences of the cancellation in a comprehensive form. The empirical analysis employs instrumental variable regressions to control for individual characteristics that might have made it more likely to access the grant before disbursement was frozen. The results show that participants who received the originally planned treatment displayed significant improvements in their consumption, savings, and psychological well-being. However, participants who vainly expected to receive the cash grant showed reduced levels of consumption and women among this subgroup also experienced strong reductions in their trust level. In addition, the study finds some evidence that these women were less likely to migrate.

Special Report: Ethical Decision-Making in Contemporary Psychiatric Practice—An Evolving Challenge

Special Report: Ethical Decision-Making in Contemporary Psychiatric Practice—An Evolving Challenge

Relationship between Entrepreneurial Personality, Human Capital, and Social Capital with Social Entrepreneurial Intention (SEI) among Students in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)

The government responds well to efforts to empower the field of social entrepreneurship through the provision of business grants, recognition of accreditation, and encouragement of activities starting at the higher education level. This effort has had a positive effect on increasing the level of understanding of the concept of social entrepreneurship among its citizens compared to the previous year. Although the percentage is not high, it turns out that the education sector is the biggest contributor to the operation of social enterprises in The State of Social Enterprise in Malaysia 2018. Thus, this sector shows good potential because the majority of entrepreneurs are young people. The change of the goal of this activity from profit maximisation to social orientation has created a gap that needs an explanation of the factors that predict social entrepreneurial intention. This intention study based on the Theory of Planned Behavior approach, Ajzen (1991). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between entrepreneurial personality, human capital, and social capital with SEI in higher education institutions. A descriptive-correlational study was used on 742 samples consisting of students in HEIs, who were members of social entrepreneurship clubs, based on proportional stratified random sampling. This research instrument met the requirements of the face and content validity as the reliability value exceeded 0.80. Inferential statistics involved analysing the relationship between the entrepreneur’s personality, human capital, and social capital with SEI using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The findings of the study found that there is a significant positive relationship between entrepreneurial personality, human capital and social capital with SEI. The implications of this study contribute to the strengthening evidenced through the analysis of the relationship between external factors that act as predictors of SEI. The findings of this study provide guidance to higher education institutions to plan curricula and diversify ideal entrepreneurial culture programme strategies for students.

Assessment of Public-Private Partnership in Technical Colleges in Nigeria: A Case of Lagos State

Abstract
 This study examined the state of Public-Private Partnerships in technical colleges in Nigeria, using Lagos state as a case study. Four research questions guided the study. It was a cross-sectional descriptive study adopted a mixed method research design. The population of the study comprised of all the 350 academic staff in the five government technical colleges in Lagos state. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample 50 teachers. Questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used to collect data. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to answer research questions one, two and three while descriptive narratives were used to analyse interview responses. Cronbach alpha technique was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire and a coefficient of 0.69 was obtained.The finding indicated that public-private partnerships existed partially as a strategy for funding technical colleges in Lagos for skills acquisition. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that colleges may set up a partnership committee to liaise with industries; government should do away with making of obnoxious policies that discourage private organisations; and National Board on Technical Education may make business grant cum start-up loan available for the graduates of technical colleges.
 Keywords: public-private partnership, skills acquisition, technical college, TVET, funding

Rural entrepreneurship and the context: navigating contextual barriers through women's groups

PurposeThis study aims to examine how women's groups help women to navigate context-related barriers to their engagement in rural entrepreneurship. The paper combines the contextualisation of entrepreneurship framework and the feminist separatist theory to describe how women's groups in patriarchal rural communities enable women to circumvent context-related barriers and actively engage in rural entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachBased on a case study of 12 women's groups engaged in paddy farming, rice processing and marketing in rural Tanzania, this study draws on semi-structured interviews with 46 women, four focus group discussions, four in-depth key informant interviews and non-participant observation.FindingsRural women face unique context-related challenges that hinder them from effectively participating in rural entrepreneurship. Specifically, limited access to farmlands and profitable markets, lack of business networks, limited time, poverty and insufficient financial resources constrain women's engagement in entrepreneurship. To overcome these contextual barriers, rural women have organised themselves into groups to gain access to business services, business-related training, grants and business networks.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to the existing literature on contextualising entrepreneurship by focussing on how rural contexts may constrain women's entrepreneurial engagement while showing how women respond to contextual barriers that enable them to participate in rural entrepreneurship.Practical implicationsThis study shows that women with low education can pursue rural entrepreneurship if they are supported through training and access to networks. This will support the performance of these groups of women.Originality/valueThis study offers new insights into the role of women's groups in navigating gender-related constraints that hinder women from participating in rural entrepreneurship within the patriarchal context of low-income countries. Thus, new perceptions for the gender and rural entrepreneurship theory and the policy implications thereof are proffered.

Measuring Spillover Effects from an Entrepreneurship Programme: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Tanzania

In this paper, we identify treatment spillovers between microfinance clients in Tanzania using data from a partial population experiment where only a subset of loan group members was offered treatment in the form of business training, a business grant, or both. Our results show large and significant spillover effects from indirect exposure to treatment through group peers. In particular, we find that male microfinance clients with peers receiving both business training and the business grant experience to have significantly higher sales than those not receiving any treatment. Moreover, microfinance clients with positive spillovers make higher investments and borrow more. In addition, the treatment impacts are higher for group members with smaller loans (which is consistent with higher marginal rates of return to capital), and for members in groups with a greater share of women. Our findings illustrate that loan groups may be an important arena for the sharing of entrepreneurial resources, and that standard treatment–control analyses of similar interventions may underestimate impacts in settings with close social interactions.

Native American business grants available

Native American business grants available

The determinants of self-employment entry of Palestinian youth

PurposeThis paper aims to study the impact of micro-level socio-economic, demographic and geographical factors on the likelihood of self-employment entry of young adults in Palestine and filling a gap in the analysis of determinants of self-employment for young adults in Palestine.Design/methodology/approachThe research design is based on a multinomial logistic (MNL) model and on the testing of seven hypotheses deriving from the review of the theoretical and empirical literature, using a micro-level longitudinal data set from the Palestinian Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) between 2009 and 2016. In the analysis, the dependent variable (employment status) is a discrete variable that takes four unordered and independent outcomes: wage employee, self-employed, employer and unpaid family member.FindingsThis study has strong evidence that the likelihood of self-employment increases with age. However, results are inconsistent with the well-known curvilinear relationship between age and self-employment. Regarding the role of gender, results show that young men are more likely to become self-employed than young women. Results indicate that there is a significant and negative impact of an increasing level of education on self-employment entry for both youth and the whole population. On the opposite, training after graduation increases the likelihood of self-employment entry for youth with high education level. Besides, this paper finds that young workers living in urban areas have more likelihood to enter self-employment than those in rural areas and young workers in Gaza have more likelihood to enter self-employment than their counterparts in West Bank.Practical implicationsFirst, in both West Bank and Gaza, young women are less inclined to actively engage in self-employment, which confirms structural inequalities between men and women. Therefore, this study calls for social protection programmes and for national programmes that would promote and develop women’s self-employment. Second, because this paper finds that youth self-employment is more an opportunity-driven phenomenon than a necessity-driven one, this study calls for programmes that provide youth with small business grants and training on entrepreneurship and business models.Originality/valueInsights are valuable as both government institutions and universities and entrepreneurial startups can benefit from knowing which factors contribute to the self-employment likelihood of youth in Palestine and use the policy recommendations to develop capacity-building programmes to provide the youth and women with skills and competencies which enable them to turn to self-employment.

What Factors are Relevant for Success in UK Equity Crowdfunding?

Equity crowdfunding has been gaining more and more relevance as an alternative way for entrepreneurs to raise capital. This paper examines the impact of retained equity, business angel backing, grants and intellectual property rights on the success of equity crowdfunding. Using data from Crowdcube, one of the leading equity crowdfunding platforms in the world, we obtain 473 pitches within the period from March 2017 to February 2020. We apply three empirical methods to analyse our data set: logistic regression, multiple linear regression and negative binomial regression. By running univariate test and several regression analyses, we find that retained equity has a significantly negative impact on funding success; also, the support of business angels helps entrepreneurs to achieve a funding success. While winning grants is more likely to attract investors, there is no direct evidence associated with funding success. Furthermore, it turns out that intellectual property rights are not relevant for funding success. In an extension, we re-examine our analysis in the light of the Corona crisis by analysing 95 pitches from March to November 2020. We find no structural changes in relevance of the success factors.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC MECHANISM OF REINTEGRATION OF ATO / OOS VETERANS IN THE SPHERE OF SOCIAL PROTECTION

The article is aimed at the defining the principles of non-governmental provision of socio-economic mechanism to assistin employment, training and support initiatives to create business for ATO / JFO veterans as part of a modern social protection system. The current social initiatives on support to former combatants and veterans with business grants to educationalcourses are analysed. The development algorithm of personal marketing plan as an instrument in the process of support in employment of ATO / JFO veterans in civil life conditions is presented. The author comes to the conclusion that synchronized effect from the cooperation of stakeholders is a base for successful reintegration of ATO / JFO veterans in the conditions of modern society and help to increase their employment rates, harmonize the situation on the labor market and improve the conditions for the creation of veterans business as a driver of economic development of the country.