Susu Daily Micro-Savings Activation
RCTClinical Trial
Microentrepreneurs facing credit constraints often lack structured mechanisms to accumulate capital for business assets. When advisory support encourages goal-directed financial discipline, daily doorstep collection mechanisms (susu savings) can be activated to accumulate liquid reserves and supplement grant funding.
Picture this
Imagine a shopkeeper who wants to buy an expensive new sewing tool but spends leftover cash on daily family needs. If a trusted collector stops by the shop door every afternoon to lock away a small coin in a piggy bank, the shopkeeper builds a dedicated reserve without relying on bank branches or self-control alone.
What the evidence says
Combining capital grants and consulting nearly doubled monthly susu savings from a baseline mean of 18.6 GH¢ to 28.38 GH¢ in Round 6 (p < 0.01) and maintained a pooled average increase of 16.63 GH¢ across rounds (p < 0.10). Capital-only recipients did not increase susu savings significantly (2.16 GH¢ pooled, p > 0.10).
- Who was studied
- N = 150 urban microenterprise tailors in Accra, Ghana.
- How
- Randomized Controlled Trial evaluating total, bank, and susu savings across 8 survey waves over 24 months.
What to do
Pair liquidity grants with structured daily micro-savings collection mechanisms and advisory goal-setting to help entrepreneurs accumulate asset reserves.
From the source
"We find an impact on susu savings in the capital & consulting group, whose average monthly susu savings is almost twice the baseline value of 18.6 cedis a month (point estimate 16.6, standard error 8.4)."
8dfcee5c-2a63-4460-a220-837509002b85-Consulting and Capital Experiments with Microenterprise Tailors in Ghana.pdf