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Good practice Imported

Ruka Juu ('Jump Up') — NHH's National TV Entrepreneurship Show for Tanzanian Secondary Students

Tanzania · Dar es Salaam · See the Tanzania profile · See the Dar es Salaam profile

Evidence: Randomised controlled trial Top 93% 43/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A randomized field experiment aired a 3-month entrepreneurship 'edutainment' show to 2,000+ Tanzanian students in 2011; it raised interest in entrepreneurship, especially among girls, but found little evidence of more business start-ups and lower school continuation.

2,000+
Students in the randomized field experiment (2011)
Ruka Juu ('Jump Up') — NHH's National TV Entrepreneurship Show for Tanzanian Secondary Students

Details

Maturity
Discontinued
Promoter
Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) / FAIR research centre, with a Tanzanian national broadcaster
Period
2011 broadcast, with multi-year follow-up surveys
Keywords
entrepreneurship education, media, youth, edutainment

Context

In 2011, researchers from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) partnered with a Tanzanian national broadcaster to air 'Ruka Juu' ('Jump Up'), a three-month entrepreneurship 'edutainment' television show.

Activities

Researchers ran a randomized field experiment with more than 2,000 secondary-school students, recruited mainly around Dar es Salaam, whom they incentivized to watch. The show aimed to build entrepreneurial mindset and interest through storytelling rather than classroom instruction, and researchers tracked administrative school records and multi-year follow-up surveys to measure effects.

Results

The study found suggestive evidence the show increased interest in entrepreneurship, particularly among female viewers, but did not find much evidence it increased business ownership. It also found a clear negative side effect: treated students were less likely to continue schooling, and administrative data showed a negative effect on school performance.

Conclusions

Published in Management Science, the study is a documented cautionary case that popular media can shift attitudes without producing the intended economic outcome, and can carry unintended costs elsewhere in young people's lives.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — TV production plus research costs; specific budget not disclosed.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Broadcast 2011; multi-year follow-up surveys afterward.
Staffing & skills
NHH FAIR researchers, Tanzanian national broadcaster production team

Conditions for success

  • a randomized design with administrative-record and multi-year survey follow-up

Common failure modes

  • increased entrepreneurship interest did not translate into business ownership
  • treated students were less likely to continue schooling, with a negative effect on school performance

Where it fits

Governance type
academic research + national broadcaster partnership
Scale
regional (mainly Dar es Salaam)
Income level
low income

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