_IMPACT OF WEDP LOANS_ _13_ weekly hours. In panel B, we compare a range of business practices outcomes and find those firms that borrow are more likely to report maintaining written records and have a formalized plan for their business. We can not rule out that the improvements in record keeping and financial planning may simply reflect the documentation requirements that are needed to apply for a loan through the MFIs or potentially the receipt of a loan may require the firm to be more organized with written records in order to keep track of interest repayments. We find limited evidence of improvements in marketing practices among existing firms that received a loan.

Table 9 reports the results comparing WEDP borrowers to those without any WEDP loans for firms that started their business in 2014 that we are classifying as a “start-up firm”. We find a positive statistically significant difference in average monthly profits for the firms that received a WEDP loan. However, for all other measures of profits, sales and number of employees we do not find statistically significant differences. The PSM kernel matching model in columns (3) and (4) produces effects that are similar in magnitude to the OLS regressions and are still not significant. The lack of evidence of differences in business performance among the start-up firms that borrowed and did not borrow could reflect that these startup firms have not had enough time to reap the returns of their loan investment and grow their business beyond the non-borrowers. The significantly higher level of capital machinery reported by those that received a loan suggests the WEDP loan was invested directly into the start-up capital for the firm while the non-borrowers possibly used their own savings to start their business in less capital-intensive sectors. Among business practices, the start-up firms that receive a loan similarly improve their record-keeping practices as compared to non-borrowers. In addition, those that received a loan were more likely to self-report that they generated a higher number of business ideas among the newly started firms. Perhaps the receipt of the loan inspired them to be more creative and come up with new ideas since they now have the means to realize their ideas.

# **VII. Conclusion**

The recent microfinance impact studies that assert only modest effects on business growth for women-owned businesses typically focus on the customary practice of offering small loans to females microentrepreneurs through group lending schemes. These studies tend to leave the reader with the view that women are unable to effectively invest entrepreneurial finance. However, this narrow focus shrouds that loan products as well as borrowers can come in all shapes and sizes. As Cull and Morduch (2017) write ”getting the right product to the right population can yield substantial impacts”. The evidence in this paper shows that larger, individual-liability loans offered to growth-oriented women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia had a significant impact on accelerating their business growth and boosting employment levels. The impact on the average number of employees is particularly pertinent when thinking how these business impacts may be filtered