Abebe, GirumAsheber, TsedeyHailemicheal, Adiam HagosWeis, Toni2024-01-032024-01-032023-09-01https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/40823A recent review of evidence on the impacts of business training indicates the need to develop alternatives to formal classroom training, simpler rules-of-thumb-type trainings for less sophisticated firms, and business trainings that can be scaled up affordably. In partnership with ideas42, the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) piloted a heuristics (rules-of-thumb)-based business training in Ethiopia that delivers easy-to-remember and -implement financial and business practices. The training was designed for small-scale female retailers and is delivered by phone using prerecorded messages and interactive voice response technology. A key motivation was to make the program accessible to women who are busy tending their families and shops, and who may have limited ability to attend classroom-based trainings.en-USCC BY-NC 3.0 IGOAFRICA GENDER POLICYGENDER INNOVATION LABWOMEN AND PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENTWOMEN AND SOCIAL NORMSGENDER EQUALITYSDG 5BriefWorld Bank10.1596/40823