In 2008, Uganda granted hundreds of small groups $400/person to help members start individual
skilled trades. Four years on, an experimental evaluation found grants raised earnings by 38%
(Blattman, Fiala, Martinez 2014). We return after 9 years to find these start-up grants acted more
as a kick-start than a lift out of poverty. Grantees' investment leveled off; controls eventually
increased their incomes through business and casual labor; and so both groups converged in
employment, earnings, and consumption. Grants had lasting impacts on assets, skilled work, and
possibly child health, but had little effect on mortality, fertility, health or education.