This project piloted the first ever randomized evaluation of ‘microfranchising,’ measuring the impact of a program intended to help young women in Nairobi launch small-scale franchise businesses. Preliminary findings show that young women involved in microfranchising are more likely to become self-employed entrepreneurs as a result of the intervention. This, in turn, suggests that the burden of devising a business plan significantly contributes to hindering entrepreneurship in developing countries. The experiment is currently being scaled up to a larger multi-arm impact evaluation that will assess the impact of the microfranchising program compared to both a pure control and an unrestricted cash grant treatment.