In economies characterized by low labor demand and high rates of youth unemployment,
entrepreneurship training has the potential to enable youth to gain skills and create their own
jobs. This paper presents experimental evidence on a new entrepreneurship track that
provides business training and personalized coaching to university students in Tunisia.
Undergraduates in the final year of licence appliquée were given the opportunity to graduate
with a business plan instead of following the standard curriculum. This paper relies on
randomized assignment of the entrepreneurship track to identify impacts on labor market
outcomes one year after graduation. The analysis finds that the entrepreneurship track was
effective in increasing self-employment among applicants, but that the effects are small in
absolute terms. In addition, the employment rate among participants remains unchanged,
pointing to a partial substitution from wage employment to self-employment. The evidence
shows that the program fostered business skills, expanded networks, and affected a range of
behavioral skills. Participation in the entrepreneurship track also heightened graduates’
optimism toward the future shortly after the Tunisian revolution.