IOM developed an investment-readiness programme to help SME owners attract investment by private financial providers and expand their businesses. The programme is based on evidence from several high-quality studies showing that investment-readiness interventions can effectively improve business outcomes for SMEs facing funding constraints.

The pilot study was developed in partnership with researchers at the University of Oxford as a proof-of[1]concept to test these three interventions in preparation for their roll-out in a full-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) among EDF grant recipients. The descriptive analysis presented in the previous sections illustrates the relevance of investment readiness programing for SMEs in Iraq, suggesting that there is unmet demand in the market for savings solutions and an information need for bookkeeping and marketing trainings.