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Kudzai M Mubaiwa The Hub
After conducting a feasibility study of a community innovation space and framing the idea through a business model canvas, it is prudent to detail how exactly you will embrace the opportunity, secure resources and operate a program that will provide the value propositions. A business plan helps you move from concept to reality by outlining practical steps to implementation.

Ideally the local team working on the business plan must be assisted by an experienced incubation professional, and they collaborate to combine best practices and context so that there is ownership, shared insights into the uniqueness of the community, and to create institutional memory.

We will explore 12 elements that are to be highlighted in a typical innovation space business plan, using our iZone example.

This will be a helicopter view and we will revisit some elements in detail in the coming weeks.

Executive summary

Often this is the section that most people will read. This will capture the most critical aspects that stakeholders will know.

These include the origins and background of the incubator, as well as its unique purpose.

It is useful to infuse brief research findings as well as observations and experiences from either a feasibility study or an initial pilot.

We preferred a pilot phase of seven months running as it gives a more real feel of what clients require and the level of effort and resourcing that comes with it.

As we run it, we document our path, what we have learnt and these will inform scaling the incubator in the next year. Already we can tell what is feasible and what is not.

Mission and Objectives

These must be clear to enable full community and other stakeholder support. They summarise what the incubator is all about and how promoters will go about achieving that end goal.

Supporting enterprise development in the digital age is iZone’s mission. We are seeking to provide support to build businesses and do that under a holistic entrepreneurship development programme that encompasses business and digital training, practical projects and advisory services and linkages.

We want to work with ideas to the point of proof of concept, monetising and then scaling. We build the capacity of the start-up owner and his start-up to ensure a viable and sustainable enterprise with the capacity to employ the owner and other youth. We use available technology interventions to facilitate all this.

Client Focus

The incubator must detail who it will select to serve, their typical profile and why. We are abundantly clear that youth, and especially young women are our people of choice.

We are most keen on youth because research shows that they are the greatest victims of unemployment and they can do thrive as entrepreneurs in the right environment – which environment an innovation space avails.

We are also aware of their energy, time commitment and technology appreciation.

In the case of our young women track, we are aware of their statistics – how they make up the majority nationwide, yet are not well represented in participation in youth economic empowerment initiatives – including entrepreneurial training, funding and innovation programs.

Organisational Structure

The plan will also show if the programme is a stand-alone, or like in our case – a programme of a larger entity, or a networked incubator that is part of a family or “franchise” type network like Impact Hub or the ICE Hubs across Africa.

The legal structure is another crucial decision – will the programme be for profit or not, what will it be registered as?

These are key considerations upfront, I once worked with a space that could not make these decisions and this affected programme and resource efficiency and caused much confusion.

Naturally whatever is selected has tax implications and it becomes more complex when a space is not standalone and its mother body is not liable for tax, affecting staffing, fund-raising and sustainability activity.

This often necessitates decisions to hive off spaces to stand-alone and focus on achieving the mission – a university incubator being a sterling illustration, it will probably need the autonomy to inform hiring and funding decisions.

An advisory board will be required for a business incubator and the contribution of typical members must be clear, their skills and expertise will matter.

It makes sense for the board to include the hub manager/CEO, economic development professionals, legal and finance professionals, a successful entrepreneur, a technical person if the space is specialised, and probably some close stakeholder.

If some of the roles can be collapsed, it helps to keep a lean structure. The board can be a useful source of ideas, advice and support.

Services and programs

In addition to direct interactions between clients and the incubator staff, incubators depend on individuals and institutions to assist in delivering services to clients.

We have elected to avail three in-house resources and created a circle of supportive entrepreneurs in residence who are in our ecosystem and volunteer through offline and online interactions.

Core incubator services are business development services and the building amenities. These two will be the focus in future articles as we need to explore them in greater detail.

Marketing and Client Recruitment

An initial feasibility study in one’s community will have helped profile a typical incubator client, and probably where they can be located.

This part of the plan will specify the channels and strategies to reach out to clients and take account of appropriate timing.

A website link is most appreciated and gives details. We used this with great success. Press releases can do the job.

Social media is increasingly popular and allows others to retweet, repost, share information regarding a call or intake and this worked excellently for us.

Well-placed marketing materials such as fliers in a university works. Word of mouth through the networks of the promoters is especially effective, we leveraged youth serving organisations we are close with to get word out to the exact kind of client we sought for. The client recruitment strategy is a very important aspect, as selection directly contributes to success.

Next week, we will complete the Innovation Space Business Plan elements by reviewing six more, namely Client Application, Selection and Graduation Processes; Staffing Plan, Facility, Budgets, the Project Workplan and Incubator Evaluation Criteria.

Thereafter, we will focus in greater detail on Client Services. Aiwa, muchadzidza zvakawanda!

◆ Kudzai M. Mubaiwa is an economic development professional and managing consultant of InvestorSaint (Pvt) Ltd, a financial education company. She is also a certified incubator manager and co-founder of iZone. You can reach her via email on [email protected] or Twitter handle @kumub