The demand for digital identification amongst small enterprise owners in Uganda

Informality hinders firm profitability and growth in a variety of ways, including limiting firms to suppliers in their social networks due to issues of trust and fraud. Digital IDs offer potential paths to increasing formality, such as by allowing the verification of identities and the authentication of signed contracts, thus helping businesses to sign contracts with new suppliers with lower prices or a better selection of goods. However, there is no research to date examining the demand for a digital ID and verified authentication services among business owners. We would plug this evidence gap by asking 1) what is the willingness of micro, small and medium enterprises in Kampala to pay for the new UGPass digital ID and how does this depend on whether contracting is highlighted as a benefit and sign-up assistance provided; and 2) does the provision of UGPass lead businesses to be more likely to write contracts?