The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies launched today the South Africa Business Incubator Establishment Handbook that will help introduce the basic concepts and issues involved in business incubation for all stakeholders that wish to establish incubators in their communities.
The Handbook which is the result of a collaboration between the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will provide applicants with an overview on some of the fundamental issues they need to understand when preparing their Incubator Support Programme (ISP) applications.
Minister Davies said that while experience suggested that business incubators were an important tool in creating real players, the biggest problem was that a lot of the applications received were not legible.
“Many of the applications received were not in alignment with the incubation programme. The discovery was that applicants did not understand what incubation was about and many were rejected because the applicant did not understand the criteria needed to qualify for the ISP,” said Minister Davies.
The Minister added that since inception, 225 applications have been received of which 134 were non-eligible and 32 were rejected by the adjudication committee.
“Reasons for non-eligibility ranged from lack of understanding of the incubation concept, failure to secure an industry partner, insufficient matching funds and an application that is not aligned to the ISP model. Furthermore, of the 48 applications that have been approved, 14 projects worth R222-million have since been cancelled. The handbook was developed to remedy some of these challenges,” he said.
Chief Director for Innovation and Technology in the Special Economic Zones and Economic Transformation Division at the dti, Ms Nonkululeko Shinga said that the handbook tries to address main gaps in the incubator ecosystem of the country.
“The handbook is a resource for anyone interested in incubator establishment. It is a flexible guide and not an instruction manual. It is divided into four sections that try to address critical questions necessary to understanding and executing appropriate incubation, she said.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Tel: 012 394 1650
Mobile: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
