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Kudzai  M. Mubaiwa The Business Hub
The success of incubation programmes can be attributed to two aspects — the quality of the clients and the value added by the programme. Hub managers thus need to be rigorous in their selection and thereafter ensure the best structure and resourcing of the programme. We will explore this in

greater detail due to its importance.

Why selection?

Youths make up the majority of this nation. Structured economic opportunities for them are few, and having closely worked with some major initiatives for youth funding, training and entrepreneur development in the past years, I can confidently say that any call or invitation will receive overwhelming response.

By their very nature, youths are energetic, flexible and mobile, the very traits that can work against them when they start one programme because if another seemingly better one comes along they may let the present one go in favour of the new one.

Research has shown evidence of many youths preferring a job over running an enterprise, and much of the entrepreneurship is necessity driven.

Yet, the road of entrepreneurship and indeed the calling is not for everyone — and in business incubation, that is a reality we must deal with and check for aptitude from day one. This will hopefully minimise drop-outs and loafers over the duration of the programme.

Tools to use in selection

As we noted in passing in past articles, we think that getting potential participants to complete an initial form (physical or online) stating their sector of interest and what is motivating them to apply for an incubation or pre-incubation programme is a great way of gaining insight about the individual.

A time deadline is a simple tool — the thinking being those that really want it will adhere. Google forms are very easy to create and they have the advantage of collating the data into excel with columns for each aspect you have asked and a clear time stamp reflecting when submissions came in.

The next action can be to focus on the enterprise that the individual wants to build, how practical and feasible the idea is, but also whether your incubator is able to provide the kind of support specific ideas will require.

For example, biotechnology can be a complex space that requires special labs, special skills to oversee and guide the innovator to monetise their inventions and/or creations.

If specialised resources are not available they are best referred to another space.

The business model canvas request works well as a summarised impression of the big idea.

The full plan must not be requested, it is important to note that the incubator should be the place where you can help the innovator develop a full plan when seeking to scale.

Both forms are obviously subject to external manipulation and gaming, hence the next tool — physical meeting and interviewing are key.

This is really all part of a due diligence exercise and a one to one interaction will help you check if the applicant is truly in touch with the idea and hopefully also exhibit the passion.

The meeting is an occasion to also converse on what they are seeking by way of client services.

Some spaces will then go on to train those who will have made it to that stage on idea generation and pitching, then finally select a few good projects through an independent panel.

All these tools are best used together and progressively and if one should still beat this system then they deserve to be there at the very least because of their tenacity!

However, the last tool would be to present a detailed contract which then binds the client to be present for all scheduled meetings, work on all given assignments related to ongoing training, conduct themselves in an acceptable manner, and make effort to build their business with your support.

We find sadly that many young Zimbabweans do very well at pitching ideas and not necessarily build the innovation they will have pitched.

Probably another tool that innovation spaces should consider is some proof of concept to enrich pitching to be more than telling but be showing and telling.

An incubator can deliberately pick and invite in those who are doing well on pitching platforms to help them progress.

A common pitfall is getting into the publicity trap, where an innovation is so exciting that more time is spent showcasing the intentions than building it and demonstrating it.

A structured incubation program helps to focus efforts on refining and creating a functional cycle or prototype. This leads us into what the innovation space can offer: client services.

Client services an incubator can offer

Having selected the motivated individuals with their ideas and innovations, the critical thing is to act on them and make both the entrepreneur and their enterprise idea better. The ultimate goal is to make something that actually works — product or service – and generate revenue.

Accountability is the first service that an incubator will serve clients with. As part of a structured programme, there is some kind of reporting required, it can be in the form of completed assigned tasks in a month, or a weekly check in on progress with the incubator manager – but either way, there will be need to present means of verification for what the client is working on, and in this way there is no mission drift.

A core incubator service is its educational seminars and ongoing business coaching. An incubator also is a great place to find like-minded people who are useful as sounding boards and also for emotional support when things are not working out — both from a functionality and revenue generation perspective. Some can also find co-founders and possibly areas of mutual co-operation with another start-up in their cohort or incubator community.

Working in a space — virtual or physical – that has other innovative minds releases entrepreneurial energy and it’s a known fact that many of the tech start-ups we have today are as a result of individuals who worked at places like Google and Facebook and got into a possibility mindset but were also groomed by the environment to innovate.

Linkages are another great opportunity, whenever innovation spaces host experts, one can interact with role models to act as advisors and mentors, and utilise the network of the incubator for reaching new and difficult markets.

The constant pitching platforms and/or competitions availed at incubator meet ups will refine the soft skills of the clients as they receive feedback from peers, incubator staff and external observers; and force them to improve their ideas constantly.

Incubator clients have access to discounted professional services like lawyers, accountants, intellectual property registration, company registration, branding and design packs — all due to the critical mass attained under the banner of one space.

Sharing amenities in a physical workspace is another great service and last but not least, an incubator is a great place to assist one to access funding from already existent funding sources — being part of a programme, or a graduate of one works in your favour as you come in recommended.

Some spaces will from the onset also be working closely with innovation funds and some, like ours, will create an internal innovation fund that invests in the projects in its programme.

So, here are ideas for those building incubation and innovation programmes to consider, as well as aspects entrepreneurs can request from programmes as support.

In the next article, we will look into the details of monitoring client progress and incubator outcomes and success factors, and thereafter start on case studies of various innovation space models.

• 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