Leveraging Digital Tools and Technology

Pradeep Chintagunta, Joseph T. and Bernice S. Lewis Distinguished Service Professor of Marketing

In this RCT, we investigate how firms create and manage wealth in emerging markets by leveraging digital technologies. Our research team has partnered with one of the largest banks in East Africa, Equity Group Foundation, to measure the impact of an innovative digital skills training on profitability, loan accessibility and business investment. We investigate how access to, and knowledge of digital technology can impact wealth creation and management. While technology has great potential in creating and managing wealth, many small-scale entrepreneurs in developing countries lack hands-on knowledge of how to leverage them for growth. This lack of ‘digital capital’ can be a significant constraint in today’s digitized society. Our research aims to shed light on this by examining the effectiveness of an innovative digital skills training, which combines 1) practical in-class training of business digitization, and 2) in-depth follow-up mentoring.