SIAKON MEDIA

The mention of incubation brings to mind something related to poultry because the word is mostly used when one is referring to issues related to that. Therefore, the mention of business incubation might sound as if the poultry business is to be done on a large scale.

But according to wikipedia, business incubators are programmes designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and orchestrated by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts.

Incubators vary in the way they deliver their services, in their organisational structure, and in the types of clients they serve. Successful completion of a business incubation programme increases the likelihood that a start-up company will stay in business for the long term.

Historical facts indicate that, about 87 per cent of incubator graduates stay in business and this can only be described as an important factor required for every economy, particularly one such as Ghana.

Incubators differ from research and technology parks in their dedication to start-up and early-stage companies. Research and technology parks, on the other hand, tend to be large-scale projects that house everything from corporate, government or university labs to very small companies.

Most research and technology parks do not offer business assistance services, which are the hallmark of a business incubation programme.

For instance, in 2005 alone, North American incubation programmes assisted more than 27,000 companies that provided employment for more than 100,000 workers and generated annual revenues of $17 billion.

About one-third of business incubation programmes are sponsored by economic development organisations. Government entities (such as cities or counties) account for 21 per cent of programmes sponsors. Another 20 per cent are sponsored by academic institutions, including two- and four-year colleges, universities, and technical colleges.

What does it provide:
Business incubators typically provide flexible space and leases, many times at very low rates compared to the market;
They also offer fee-based business support services, such as telephone answering, bookkeeping, secretarial, fax and copy machine access, libraries and meeting rooms;

Some even provide group rates for health, life and other insurance plans as well as business and technical assistance either on site or through a community referral system.

One of the major problems with start-up businesses is initial capital to commence business and, therefore, business incubators provide assistance in obtaining funding and are offered the unique opportunity for networking with other entrepreneurs.
The primary goal of a business incubator is to produce successful businesses that are able to operate independently and are financially viable.

Ghana Experience:
In 2005, the government established the Ghana Multimedia Incubator Centre (GMIC), to promote ICT entrepreneurial development and technology commercialisation through the incubation of ICT business start-ups and to also develop the much needed ICT skills under the government’s ICT for accelerated development policy.

This has been achieved to a large extent with massive support from successive governments since the establishment of the centre through the Ministry of Communications and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The centre aids start-ups and young businesses that have ground-breaking and innovative ICT ideas to mature into the viable business ventures through incubation.

The incubator currently houses 14 tenant-companies who are undertaking various innovative and technological developments in the areas of biometric identification, artificial intelligence, home automation, vehicle tracking, educational software, online recruitment and entertainment systems among others.

According to the Project Director of the centre, Mr Solomon Asante Dartey, seven of these companies are currently at the commercial stage and doing brisk business on the market employing approximately 80 people.

Another service the centre offers is the hosting of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) training facility of the Ministry of Communication and since 2006, it has trained more than 1,200 Ghanaians in various BPO modules across the country.

This includes training in BPO areas such as data entry, call/contact centre operations, and medical transcription as well as this special training in various Microsoft applications and office productivity applications for selected public sector outfits.

Trainees from the programme have been placed in a number of companies, particularly, ACS, Datacom, Rising Data Solutions, Exceed and GCNet.

Based on its achievements in the last four years, the centre has been able to succeed in joining the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) and has since trained and certified three members of the management team.

Mr Dartey said the association with the NBIA has exposed the centre to best practices, volumes of information, loads of contacts and rich knowledge in the area of business incubation.

“In May this year, the Ghana Multimedia Incubation Training Centre lead by the Deputy Minister of Communication, Mr Gideon Quarcoo, concluded discussions to use Ghana as a hub for the running of international business incubation training and other entrepreneurship and business development programmes in Ghana and in Africa”, he said that while addressing some participants at the first GMIC/NBIA training programme on business incubation management in Accra.

The National Business Incubation Association is the world’s leading organisation advancing business incubation and entrepreneurship.

Each year, it provides thousands of professionals with information, education, advocacy and networking resources to bring excellence to the process of assisting early-stage companies. An elected, voting board of directors representing the world's leading incubators governs the association.

NBIA serves more than 1,900 members in over 60 nations. While incubator managers and developers make up a large share of NBIA’s membership base. The association also represents other interested individuals and groups. Approximately 25 per cent of the NBIA membership is from outside the United States.

NBIA advances the business creation process to increase entrepreneurial success and individual opportunity, strengthening communities worldwide. To accomplish this mission, NBIA serves as a clearinghouse of information on incubator management and development issues.

The association engages in many activities that support members’ professional development, including; Organising conferences and specialised trainings; Conducting research and compiling statistics on the incubation industry; Producing publications that describe practical approaches to business incubation; Consulting with governments and corporations on incubator development.

The way forward
In his address to the House of Representatives’ Small Business Committee, the President of the NBIA, Mr David Monkman advocated greater consensus and support for business incubation in the US, especially as congress examines ways to create jobs and turn around the struggling economy.

In Ghana, although there is no formal record on the unemployment situation in the country, it is a known that the rate is very high. There are many attempts to ensure that the situation is minimised to the barest minimum but not much has been achieved in recent times.

It is important to note that if a country such as the US recognises the value of business incubation in transforming its economy and helping its people out of poverty, a country such as Ghana should emulate that example.

The government, through the Ministry of Communications has taken some bold steps through the GMIC to address the situation but it is not able to live up to expectation for lack of funds and support to enable it explore its fullest potential.

Much as the UNDP should be lauded for its support, it will be worth it if the government set some funds aside from the oil find to financially resource the GMIC to enable it prepare more future entrepreneurs for the job market.

Other development partners should also be invited to assist the GMIC to do more than it is doing presently and the impact on the economy as far as the moves to reduce the unemployment rate is concerned, would be achieved.

 

 

Source: Daily Graphic