National Forum for Incubators on the cards
A forum to promote the interests of incubators in South Africa is on the cards after the first ever get-together of South African incubation managers at The Innovation Hub in Pretoria the end of July this year.
GODISA and The Innovation Hub jointly hosted the workshop. One of the objectives was to share experiences following the National Business Incubator Association's (NBIA) 16th International Conference held in Toronto, Canada in May this year.
| GODISA is a national initiative that aims to increase economic growth and employment creation through enhancing technological innovation, improving productivity and accelerating international competitiveness of South African SMMEs. |
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Three South Africans attended this conference: Ms Jill Sawers, Manager: Incubation of The Innovation Hub Management Company, Dr Paul Abrahams, Manager of the eGoli Bio-Incubator and Mr Ben Zaaiman, CEO of the Softstart Software Incubator. The latter two are both incubators in the GODISA Programme funded by the Departments of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST) and Trade & Industry (DTI) and the European Community fund GODISA, while the Department of Labour is also involved.
The purpose of the workshop was to share lessons learnt from incubator managers around the world and discuss common issues facing local incubators as well as possible ways to address them.
Some of the attendees at the workshop included
ltr front: Jill Sawers (The Innovation Hub) and Dr Jon Burns (GODISA) and
standing ltr: Dr Paul Abrahams (eGoli Bio-Incubator) and Ben Zaaiman (Softstart Software Incubator).
"Incubation in South Africa is still in its infancy. As the first ever meeting of incubator practitioners in the country, the workshop was well attended and proved to be a valuable exercise for all involved," according to Jill Sawers.
"One of the anticipated issues was the real need to institutionalise a forum or an association for incubator managers. This would facilitate the sharing of experiences and creating awareness of the focus and activities of other incubators, and serve as a point of entry into incubation activities in South Africa. It could open doors for partnerships, accessing global markets and forming global alliances. The establishment of such a national forum is the first priority.
"Another important issue is the significant need for seed funding. It is not readily available. A national forum could play an important role in this regard, for example by raising money for early stage funding for knowledge driven start-up companies and lobbying collectively for the needs of incubators," she said.
Workshop participants agreed that incubation in South Africa is unique, and that what may have worked overseas is not necessarily suitable for South Africa. Entry criteria, disadvantaged candidates, outreach initiatives, and the need for pre-incubation are examples of additional challenges facing business incubation in the country.
Contact details
Dr Jon Burns
Director
GODISA Project Director
Tel: +27 12 841 3919 |
Jill Sawers
Incubation Manager
The Innovation Hub
Tel: +27 12 349 0382 |
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