Many public and private programs exist with the goal of helping MSMEs succeed and become more productive and competitive. However, there is little rigorous evidence of the impact of these programs. IPA is collaborating with the Institute for the Competitiveness and Productivity of Puebla (IPPC), an independent state government agency, to evaluate their MSME mentoring program.

The IPPC program assigns mentors to work with firms for two years on topics including goal planning, strategy, human resources solutions, and market analysis. IPA will measure the effect mentors have on the performance of MSMEs and their principal decision-makers in terms of profits, costs, firm size, entrepreneurial spirit, complementary association with other firms, and the correct role of the manager/owner within the firm.
In this study, participation in the mentoring program is randomized at the firm level. Of 450 firms participating in the study, 150 were randomly selected to participate in the mentoring program (treatment group) and 300 will not receive the program (comparison group).