For entrepreneurs to have their businesses thrive there is the need to find and access resources such as incubators, accelerators, and other platforms to help them boost their skills. To break it down on what incubators and accelerators are, we have Reginald Nsowah, the executive producer on Gamers Change Lives, and Cholwe Shabukali, who is both the co-founder and managing director of Team Gematrix.
Reginald describes an incubator as a place where ideas for businesses get developed and nurtured till they become full businesses, following a design and series of configurations alongside mentorship from experts and advisors. So generally businesses go in for support (skill sets, funds) to be made ready for the world.
There are instances one could go into incubator programs with a partner as a co-founder and have no ideas for businesses; just go in and recruit people with the skills they are looking out for, and have a minimum viable product (MVP) be developed into a business. This could be six weeks to a year, depending on the duration of the incubator.
Cholwe helps note that incubators depend on the type of call made. There could be a call for a business idea, an early business idea, or co-founders with at best two or more years in operation. All to meet a particular target or fit criteria as incubation is carried out for six to 12 month duration.
Cholwe shares her experiences with an incubator she worked with called Bongo Hive, where she learned about business models and running them at a market level. Through her stay with the incubator, what she picked up on was establishing networks and running a business from the grassroots, where she understood that your network is your net worth, and that you should not be afraid to ask for help. This goes a long way into helping develop your finances, strategies, marketing and overall getting you ready for the market approach.
With Google being one of the places to conduct searches for incubators, Reginald also suggests enquiring from entrepreneurial agencies at the local government offices and local youth ministries as they may liaise with hubs. He goes on to cite examples such as the UNICEF Startup Lab by UNICEF, which has its incubator program running in Ghana, as well as international incubators such as Y-Combinator and Startup 500 that have regional chapters you can participate in virtually. There is also LinkedIn, where you can have specific keywords inputted to find out which incubators will be the best fit for you.
Both Reginald and Cholwe highlight that it is also best to keep in touch with some incubators as some may do likewise, because there could be some valuable information shared that will be of importance to you. There could be invites to networking events, webinars, conferences that will be adequately helpful; all to keep the relationship going. This will be able to take effect if you go into incubators with your best foot forward, be genuine to mentors and other startup founders who will make up your network.
With expectations on money or prize pools, they are also dependent on what type of incubator or accelerator they may be. Sometimes funding may come as a check, or resources – equipment, office space, coaching sessions, legal services, among others. What startups and their founders will need to look out for in these situations is what benefit or value these things will be to the growth of their businesses in the ecosystem.
This was such an engaging conversation with Reginald Nsowah and Cholwe Shabukali on the Gamers Change Lives Podcast where they spoke on “Introduction to Incubators and Accelerators”. Listen to the full podcast episode with Reginald and Cholwe on all major podcast streaming platforms. The episode is also live on our website, and you can listen to it here!
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Written By Jeffrey Osei-Agyeman
