Country: Mauritius Manufacturing and Services Development and Competitiveness Project CROSS-COUNTRY WORKSHOP FOR IMPACT EVALUATIONS IN FINANCE AND PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT Dakar, February 1-4, 2010 Mr C. Charitar-Principal Financial Analyst Mr. N. Raffique (On behalf of the MSDC Team)- Financial Management Analyst Mr A.Ramdhany- Financial Management Analyst 1

Title  Support enterprise growth  Competitiveness  Employment creation in manufacturing & services sectors. PROJECT OBJECTIVES 2

Title  Improving access to Quality Development Services (BDS )  Strengthening Institutional and Policy Support for existing Public – Sector SME related institutions.  Increasing access to finance to credit constrained businesses. PROJECT DESCRIPTION 3

Title Improving access to Quality Business Development Services (BDS)  specialized skills and training  Upgrading technology  Standards & certification  marketing research PROJECT COMPONENTS 4

Title Cost sharing or matching grants – to buy specialised outside expertise  To whom ? T0 any commercial activity contributing to the economy. Firms with sales of $160,000 USD and above Average grant size of $20,000 USD  Financial services and trading oriented to the domestic market are expressly excluded. PRIORITIES FOR LEARNING: INTERVENTIONS 5

Title EVALUATION QUESTIONS 6  How much do the matching grants increase turnover?  Do the grants lead to jobs creation, and if so, what is the gender mix of the jobs created?  Which new business services do SMEs demand? Are they activities with spillovers for society and are they ones they wouldn’t have done without grants?  Which firms apply for matching grants?  How long does it take firms to recoup their investments in their share of the match?

500 SMEs over 4 years Introduce in a staggered fashion, with limit of 75 in round one, limit to be decided in round two, etc. Program is promoted heavily in year one, and we hope to get more applicants than the quota  Then treatment group will be randomly chosen from applicants in first year, those who aren’t chosen become control group (note they are eligible to apply again in round 2 Title EVALUATION DESIGN 7

Title SAMPLING AND DATA 8  Firms self-select into applying from the general population – we can use Enterprise Surveys and other Government data to compare those who apply to the average firm  Application form contains baseline data on firm sales, employment, owner characteristics (GENDER), etc.  Administrative tax records on sales are also available both before and after  Firms receiving grants will also give quarterly updates  Follow-up survey of firms in year 3, independently done by contracted survey firm, not linked to administrative agency  End year survey at year 5

Title  In effect within 6 months from now  Application forms invited soon, and lottery then done  First grants given out, and processes piloted and databases built  Depending on initial level of applications, targets will be reviewed and quota and timing for round 2 set.  Survey at the end of year 3 and end. TIMELINE FOR IMPACT EVALUATION 9

Title  Mauritius Business Growth Scheme Unit  Establishment of a Monitoring & Evaluation Unit  Outsource the survey  Project Coordinator from WB side to be provided and collaborate with MBGSU IMPACT EVALUATION TEAM: STAFFING 10

Title  Project has budgeted for implementation costs including promotional activities to advertise the project. It also has budgeted for follow up surveys  Only additional budget requirement is funding for the project coordinator (which WB will fund) BUDGET 11

Thank You 12