Non-profit organisation The Southern African Business and Technology Incubation Association (Sabtia) has been mandated by government to address the challenges in the local business incubation and acceleration community.
Lindiwe Zulu, minister of small business development, says incubation and acceleration programmes are particularly important in developing nations, to accelerate economic growth and transformation.
In his State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the establishment of a R1-billion fund for primarily township businesses.
Sabtia aims to complement those efforts through incubator and accelerator certification, formal training, measurement and consulting.
“Many critics have argued that business incubation has limited success in Africa,” says Zaid Mohidin, chairman of Sabtia. “But the challenges we face are because we lack co-ordination and haven’t localised global models to suit our unique conditions.
“We need to improve capacity and capability within our incubators, and develop effective and distinctive sector and regional ecosystems to support them.
“We need entrepreneurial ecosystem builders to come together to make a change in southern Africa,” he adds. “We need to be generous with the learning experience, for the betterment of incubators, for the betterment of entrepreneurs, and for the betterment of the economy.”
Sabtia aims to fulfil its mandate by enabling supportive activities for incubators while improving capacities and capabilities within incubators and building a more inclusive incubation and acceleration ecosystem.
At the same time, it plans to create a platform for collaboration between private and public stakeholders across the region, and to form strategic and focused partnerships with the likes of the International Business Innovation Association (InBIA) in the US and the EBN Innovation Network in Europe.
Working together with stakeholders, which include public and private sector organisations, service providers, consultants, educational institutions and the media, Sabtia plans to:
* Develop an accredited network of incubators;
* Define a professional code of conduct;
* Develop good practice standards;
* Set benchmarking methodologies;
* Serve as an entry point for international incubation into South Africa; and
* Equip incubators and accelerators with the tools, knowledge and networks they need to provide quality services and support to SMMEs.
Next week, Sabtia will lead a delegation to Dallas, Texas, to sign a strategic partnership with InBIA aimed at developing innovative “co-incubation” models to address challenges of accessing global markets (smart take-off and soft-landing), innovation and investment into southern Africa.
Sabtia membership is free for students and faculties. Individuals and incubators/accelerators can choose from a number of different membership options.