1. Synthesis of the Proceedings Imran Matin Deputy Executive Director BRAC International

2. Inaugural session Findings of the presentation It is difficult to create employment using micro enterprises There is gender variation in the extent to which cash and in-kind grants generate profit Cash and in-kind grants also differ in their profit generation abilities Women from the upper echelons of society are better able to generate profits Training and capital grants together improve profit but not independently Incentives increase enterprise registration, but registration only influences attitudes, not necessarily operations

3. Potential Issues for discussion Definitional issues regarding micro-enterprises Need to differentiate between necessity driven versus profit seeking enterprises. Necessity driven enterprises may not inherently grow Need to distinguish between factor driven, innovation driven and efficiency driven enterprises Inaugural session

4. Potential Issues for discussion What are the potential alternatives for impact assessment as opposed to RCT Bangladesh’s stagnant macroeconomic environment poses a barrier to profit generation- ie, profit becomes a zero sum gain. Lack of protection measures such as bankruptcy laws and own savings measures can potentially increase the impact of failure on micro-entrepreneurs. How to foster an enabling macroeconomic environment for micro-enterprises? Inaugural session

5. Session 2: Constraints of SMEs Findings of the presentations Bangladesh has a number of comparative advantages in the areas such as having lower capital and intensity use of local inputs thus creating backward linkages, higher female employment creating minimum disruption of family life smaller gestation period for enterprises Demand side constraints include high interest rates, complex loan processing procedures and insufficient information regarding finance availability Supply side constraints include high administrative costs, interest gap for excluded middle and insufficient access to technology

6. Session 2: Constraints of SMEs Findings of the presentations Weak backbone of industrialization inherited since independence challenges SME growth in Bangladesh Commercial banks do not prioritize lending to SMEs due to the lack of collateral and high transaction costs BRAC Bank is one of the few in the country which actively addresses this issue with their SME programme

7. Potential issues for discussion: How to develop linkages between micro and large enterprises as well as between enterprises and large training houses How to make the government be open to taking ownership of the products the country produces and adequately promote them in the foreign markets How to increase SMEs’ access to commercial banks? Session 2: Constraints of SMEs

8. Findings of the presentations: Grant-based approach appears to be an innovative way to address the extreme poverty Randomized evaluation design was used to assess the BRAC’s CFPR/TUP programme implemented in Bangladesh and Bandhan programme implement in India and showed that: Both of the evaluations find solid impacts on income and food security, vulnerability, and generating productive asset base Strong evidence of spill over effects Session 3: Evaluation of Ultra poor programmes

9. Session 3 Potential issues for discussion Can ultra-poverty be sustainability reduced through a grant-based approach? Cost-benefit analysis and relative effectiveness of different types of grant-based approach Can safety nets be designed to enable entrepreneurship through community level structural changes? Is it feasible to attempt coordinating resources from NGOs and the government to better serve the poor? How do we define graduation of the ultra poverty targeted by different types of safety net programmes? Is grant-based approach necessary for all groups of ultra poor?