Evaluation of the “Gründercoaching Deutschland” and “Gründercoaching Deutschland – Gründungen aus der Arbeitslosigkeit” Programmes

Through “Gründercoaching Deutschland” (start-up coaching) and its variant for start-ups out of unemployment, the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Ministry of Labour subsidised coaching services for young companies from 2007 and 2008 respectively, with the aim of increasing their survival rates. On behalf of both ministries, in cooperation with the KfW development bank, we examined the programmes in their original form, that is, before the 2011 reform. The analysis was based on implementation case studies in 15 regions and on a telephone panel survey of recipients and a comparison group, which yielded almost 8,750 usable interviews over two waves. The causal impact analysis built on these data, comparing recipients with similar non-recipients through a matching procedure. The results show how far subjective satisfaction and demonstrable impact can diverge. Recipients rated the coaching very positively for the most part and both programmes exceeded the target values of the European Social Fund. The causal analysis, by contrast, produced a mixed picture: for the variant for start-ups out of unemployment, there were positive effects on remaining self-employed and on business growth, whereas for the basic programme there were no effects or negative ones. This can be explained by the fact that founders coming out of unemployment had less entrepreneurial experience and accordingly benefited more from coaching. From this the consortium derived concrete design proposals: to continue the variant for start-ups out of unemployment and to realign the basic programme with a more clearly defined target group, a distinct range of services, and a narrower application window.

Cooperation partners