Pollinate Impact

What Evidence Says About Incubator-Incubator Collaboration and Value Alignment
2026-02-18 09:00 - 10:00 UTC
Collaboration between incubators is often touted as essential, but in practice, it can be hard to get right. Partnerships form with good intent, yet many struggle to deliver real value, sustain momentum, or align around shared priorities.

Signals from the Field is an interactive session that steps back to ask: what does the evidence really show about when incubator collaboration works and when it does not?

Drawing on Pollinate Impact’s latest literature review, this session invites members to examine what research and real-world experience say about collaboration, value alignment, and what makes partnerships truly meaningful. We’ll highlight key findings, discuss what aligns with your experience, and make time for open conversation across the network.

What you’ll take away

Get a clear snapshot of what research says about collaboration between incubators
Understand why value alignment matters and where misalignment often shows up
Explore common collaboration models and see where they tend to succeed or face challenges
Gain practical language to assess partnerships more thoughtfully
Help shape Pollinate Impact’s ongoing research agenda

Who should attend

Leaders and team members from incubators and accelerators
Partnership, research, or strategy teams
Decision-makers who are thinking about cross-organisation collaboration

Featuring

Himakshi Chaudhary (Pollinate Impact)
Anand Sri Ganesh (NSRCEL)
Gertrude Mawuena Goh (RUG Hub Ghana)
Keni Kariuki (Impact Hub Nairobi)
Peninah Kanyua (Dimewise)
Saurabh Lall (University of Glasgow)
Tony Sheldon (Yale School of Management)

If collaboration is part of your work now or in the future, this session will be helpful.

We’d love to see you there.

The Elephant & the Match: Incubators and Investors in Discovery
2026-02-27 10:00 - 12:30 (Europe/Moscow) | ABC Place Nairobi, Waiyaki Way, Nairobi, Kenya
Incubators and investors often talk about each other, but rarely with each other.
When they do connect, it’s usually through pitches, panels, or assumptions rather than an honest exchange.
The Elephant & the Match creates space for a different kind of conversation. This focused, in-person session brings incubators and investors together for direct, structured dialogue—designed to move beyond surface introductions and explore where real value, alignment, and collaboration may exist.
Building on earlier Pollinate Impact discussions, the session shifts from diagnosing the gap to engaging with it—one conversation at a time.
👍What you’ll gain

Clearer insight into how incubators and investors define value

Stronger questions for future fundraising or partnership conversations

A small number of meaningful connections built through honest dialogue

Greater confidence in navigating incubator–investor relationships

🌟Who this is for

Leaders and teams from incubators and accelerators

Investors and partnership leads

Anyone working at the intersection of incubation and investment

If bridging the incubator–investor divide is part of your work, this session offers a practical place to start.

Pollinate Potluck 2026 Appetiser: What Are You Bringing?
2026-03-11 09:00 - 10:00 UTC | https://www.pollinateimpact.org/event/pollinate-potluck-2026-appetiser/
Here’s the thing about this year’s Potluck: You’re not just attending, you’re cooking.
Participant-led sessions are where the magic happens. They’re how we surface the real, messy challenges from the field, how we learn from one another across borders and contexts. How do we build the kind of momentum that actually moves the needle?
This appetiser session is your backstage pass to the Call for Participant-Led Sessions. Think of it as a friendly walkthrough, no jargon, no perfection required, just practical guidance on what we’re inviting and how you can contribute.

We’ll cover:

What participant-led sessions are (and what they’re definitely not)
The three Potluck streams: Value Proposition, Talent, and Financial Sustainability, and how your idea might align with one or dance across all three
Session formats you can explore, from peer-led workshops to collaborative deep dives (yes, even escape-room style sessions, we’re here for it)
What makes a proposal strong (spoiler: it’s not about polish, it’s about purpose)

Here’s what we want you to know: You don’t need a perfect idea to show up. Early questions? Bring them. Exploratory thinking? We love it. Want to co-facilitate with another member or even a non-member? Absolutely welcome.
By the end of this hour, you’ll have clarity on how the call works, what’s required, the timeline, and whether you’re ready to submit. We’ll also save space for your FAQs and real talk about scope and facilitation.
Think of this as your orientation to the call and your invitation to bring something meaningful to the table. 🍲
Sample proposal

Pollinate Impact SG/Board Monthly Meeting
2026-03-17 15:00 - 16:30, 2026-04-21 15:00 - 16:30, 2026-05-19 15:00 - 16:30, 2026-06-16 15:00 - 16:30, 2026-07-21 15:00 - 16:30, 2026-08-18 15:00 - 16:30, 2026-09-15 15:00 - 16:30, 2026-10-20 15:00 - 16:30 UTC and 7 more dates

Smarter Screening and Selection of Entrepreneurs into your Programme
2026-03-18 10:00 - 11:00 UTC | Zoom (link will be emailed to participants)
How much time, energy, and coffee does your team really pour into screening? It’s the behind-the-scenes story of selection that rarely gets told — and as application volumes grow, it quietly pulls resources away from deeper programme design and founder support: the work that actually moves the needle.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. And we think there’s a better way forward together.

Here’s how it works:
The Build Table is a series of exploratory sessions where Pollinate Impact members dive deep into shared challenges. Each session presents a research-informed snapshot of a concrete problem emerging across regions and contexts — highlighting insights, trends, and potential directions for solutions. Sessions serve as the starting point for forming a Collective Action Team (CAT) of members committed to co-designing, testing, and piloting solutions together.
What This First Session Is About
Our partner Impact Intelligence has developed a beta AI-supported screening tool, informed by the participation of 20 member organisations — putting real data behind the anecdotal evidence surfaced across the network. The aim is not to automate decision-making, but to explore how AI, when trained responsibly using real incubator inputs, could help surface signal from noise, reduce manual effort, and support human judgment.
We’ll share:

A snapshot of what the network is seeing, where screening bottlenecks emerge, where processes break down, and why this work is best taken forward together.
Early thinking on an AI-supported screening concept is being explored with our partner, Impact Intelligence.

This work does not aim to replace human judgment or automate difficult decisions.
Instead, we’re exploring how responsibly designed support tools informed by incubator inputs might help surface signal from noise, reduce manual burden, and strengthen decision-making while keeping practitioners firmly in control.
What You’ll Walk Away With
By the end of this session, you’ll have clarity on:

Understand the key screening bottlenecks surfaced through Pollinate Impact’s early research — from common pain points to where processes break under scale
Gain clarity on why this is being taken forward as a CAT — not a one-off tool or webinar — and why collective action is the right approach for this challenge
Assess whether the problem resonates with your own screening reality and how your insights, processes, or data could help shape the solution. Leave with a concrete pathway to join the CAT cohort and help co-design what effective, ethical screening could look like in practice

We’ll close with an invitation to join the CAT cohort, a group of Pollinate Impact members committed to co-designing, testing, and learning together as this work evolves.
We’ve done the listening. Now it’s time to build. 🍽️
About The Build Table
The Build Table is where Pollinate Impact members move from shared challenges to shared solutions. Each session introduces a concrete issue emerging across regions and contexts, and invites members to join a Collective Action Team (CAT) to co-design, test, and build something practical together.
This is not a webinar series. It is a space for collective work.

The Funding Flora: Conversations With Investors Networks
2026-03-25 09:00 - 10:00 UTC | Zoom (Link will be emailed to registrants)
You’ve made a warm introduction. Your founder has a solid pitch. The investor says, “Interesting, keep us posted.”
And then… nothing.
Across the Pollinate Impact network, this experience is familiar. Referrals stall, feedback is limited, and it’s not always clear where expectations diverged. Was the startup not ready? Did the referral land differently than intended? Are investor networks looking for signals that incubators are not always preparing founders for?
The Funding Flora is where we begin to unpack these questions. The series creates space for honest, grounded conversations between impact incubators and investors across the Global South. Rather than focusing on pitch decks or funding announcements, the sessions centre on how capital actually flows, how decisions are made, and where collaboration can be strengthened in practice.

This session: Investor networks
Investors are often the first believers. They write early cheques—sometimes before traction is clear, before revenue stabilises, or before a full team is in place. Yet investor networks remain one of the most misunderstood sources of early-stage capital in the ecosystem.
In this session, we’ll be joined by speakers from Viktoria Ventures and ANGIN Indonesia, who work closely with investor networks across emerging markets. Drawing from their experience, the conversation will explore what makes incubator-referred startups stand out, where referrals tend to fall short, and how trust and readiness are assessed in practice.
What we’ll explore together
This is not a panel or presentation. It’s a two-way conversation structured around questions that continue to surface across the network, including:

How do investor networks actually source and evaluate deals?
What makes an incubator referral credible — and where does trust come from?
Where do incubators tend to over-prepare founders, and where do they send them into conversations under-equipped?
How do investors think about risk, timelines, and founder readiness at the earliest stages?
What could stronger, more transparent relationships between investors and incubators look like over time?

Speakers will share what they are seeing from the investor side. Participants will bring what they are experiencing on the ground from the incubator side. Together, the session aims to surface practical insights that can strengthen referrals, relationships, and long-term collaboration.
Who should join
This session is open to all and is particularly relevant for those working in:

Leadership or partnership roles
Fundraising support or investor relations
Programme design, especially where founders are being prepared for early investment conversations

If you’ve ever wondered why a “strong” referral didn’t land, or how to better position founders for investment, this conversation offers a practical place to start.
About The Funding Flora
The Funding Flora is a series of grounded conversations between impact incubators and investors across the Global South. Each session focuses on a different type of capital and examines how funding decisions are made, where expectations misalign, and what stronger partnerships look like when both sides better understand each other’s realities.
Less mystique. More mutual understanding.
Speakers
Fiona Kiruja, Viktoria Ventures
David Soukhasing, ANGIN Indonesia
Facilitator
Ruod, Pollinate Impact

Member Orientation 2026
2026-04-01 08:30 - 09:30 UTC | Zoom (link will be emailed to participants)
Member Orientation is designed to help you find your footing within the Pollinate Impact network. It’s a shared space for members to connect, understand how the network functions, and explore the tools, opportunities, and convenings available to support your work. The session offers practical guidance on how to engage meaningfully and make the most of being part of Pollinate. Our Community Choreographer, Ruod Ariete, and Membership Mobilizer, Sophia Morita, will guide you through all that’s available to you as a member of our Network, including fundraising resources, tools, and upcoming opportunities. During the session, you’ll explore:

Our Tool Library – Curated resources to help impact incubators run smarter, scale bigger, and better support their entrepreneurs.
Fundraising Opportunities – Including our curated grants and opportunities emailer, plus Fundraising Office Hours.
Convenings – Updates on learning spaces and member-only sessions with funders and ecosystem leaders.

You’ll also get a snapshot of what’s unfolding across the Network, including:

Upcoming Collaborative Action Teams (CATs)
Research Projects & Communities of Practice

The session also creates space to connect with fellow members navigating similar challenges and opportunities across the Global South. Join us to get oriented, understand what’s available, and begin engaging with the network in ways that matter most to your work.

The Funding Flora: Conversations With Investors — Sector-Specialised Investor in Health, Climate, and Gender
2026-04-08 09:00 - 10:00 UTC | Zoom (Link will be emailed to registrants)
You’ve helped a founder refine their model. The impact case is strong. The mission resonates. But when it comes to raise capital, the conversation suddenly changes.
One investor asks about regulatory pathways in health. Another wants deeper climate data. A third asks how gender outcomes will actually be measured. What felt like a strong pitch suddenly becomes a very different conversation.
Across the Pollinate Impact network, this experience is becoming more common. As more investors specialise in particular sectors, their expectations around evidence, timelines, risk, and impact measurement begin to diverge. What works for one type of investor may fall flat with another.
The Funding Flora is where we begin to unpack these differences.
Sector-specialised investors are increasingly shaping the landscape of impact capital. Whether working in health, climate, or gender-lens investing, these investors often evaluate opportunities through very specific lenses – looking closely at evidence, sector dynamics, and the pathways to impact.
In this session, we’ll be joined by Andia Chakava from Graça Machel Trust, who works closely with founders and ecosystem builders supporting enterprises across these sectors.

What we’ll explore together
This is not a panel or presentation. It’s a two-way conversation structured around questions that continue to surface across the Network, including:

How does sector specialisation change what investors look for in a startup?
What sector-specific signals — or red flags — influence investment decisions?
How should incubators adapt their support for founders working in different impact sectors?
Where do sector-specialised investors see the biggest gaps in current pipelines?

Speakers will share what they are seeing from the investor side. Participants will bring what they are experiencing on the ground from the incubator side. Together, the session aims to surface practical insights that help incubators better support founders navigating sector-specific investment landscapes.
Who should join?
This session is open to all Pollinate Impact members and is particularly relevant for those working in:

Leadership or partnership roles
Fundraising support or investor relations
Programme design, especially where founders are being prepared for sector-specific investment conversations

If you’re working with founders in health, climate, or gender-focused ventures – or supporting pipelines across multiple sectors – this conversation offers a chance to understand better how sector-specialised investors think.
About The Funding Flora
The Funding Flora is a series of grounded conversations between impact incubators and investors across the Global South. Each session focuses on a different type of capital and examines how funding decisions are made, where expectations misalign, and what stronger partnerships look like when both sides better understand each other’s realities.
Speaker
Andia Chakava — Graça Machel Trust
Facilitator
Ruod — Pollinate Impact

CAT Kickoff: Building Smarter Screening & Selection Together
2026-04-15 11:00 - 12:30 UTC
For many impact incubators, screening is one of the most important and most demanding parts of the programme journey. It takes time, focus, and careful judgment to identify the right entrepreneurs for a cohort. And as application volumes grow, that process can become heavier, more uneven, and harder to sustain.
This two-part kickoff marks the beginning of Pollinate Impact’s first Collective Action Team (CAT) on smarter screening and selection. Rather than producing another static report, this is a working space for members who want to co-create something practical together grounded in the lived realities of impact incubators across contexts. The CAT is designed for those ready to move beyond identifying the problem and begin building more effective ways of approaching it.
In Part 1, we’ll focus on building trust within the group, validating shared challenges, and co-creating a problem statement that reflects what’s actually happening across your organisation. By the end, you’ll have moved from a shared pain point to a clearer, collectively owned direction for action. If screening and selection are challenges your team is grappling with, this is your opportunity to help shape what comes next alongside peers solving the same problem.

Pollinate Impact Annual General Meeting 2026
2026-04-22 12:00 - 13:30 UTC | Zoom (Link will be emailed to registrants)
The Annual General Meeting is a moment for the Pollinate Impact community to reconnect, reflect, and look at where the Network is today — and where it’s heading next.
Over the past year, the community has grown through new collaborations, shared learning, and conversations across regions. This session creates space to reflect on that journey and what it means for the Network moving forward.
We’ll share updates on the Network’s progress, key milestones, and overall organisational health. We’ll also open the floor for dialogue — giving members the opportunity to ask questions, share perspectives, and engage directly with others across the community.
You’ll hear reflections from the Pollinate Impact team and members of the Stewardship Group, sharing perspectives from across the Network and highlighting key learnings and developments from the past year.
This meeting is an opportunity to step back, connect the dots, and engage in conversations about the priorities shaping Pollinate Impact moving forward.
If you’re part of the Pollinate Impact Network, we encourage you to join the conversation — to stay connected with the community, understand how the Network is evolving, and play a role in shaping what comes next.

Catalyst Circle: Our Peer Mentoring Programme with The Human Edge
2026-04-28 11:00 - 12:00 UTC
Leadership in the incubation ecosystem can be deeply rewarding, but it can also feel isolating. Across the Pollinate Impact network and beyond, many leaders are navigating similar questions — how to support entrepreneurs more effectively, how to grow their organisations sustainably, and how to sustain themselves while doing this work.
What if some of the most valuable support came from peers walking similar paths?
Catalyst Circle introduces a new opportunity for leaders across the ecosystem to connect through peer mentoring. In partnership with The Human Edge, this session offers a first look at the Catalyst Circle — a peer learning and mentoring programme designed to support leaders working in impact incubation and entrepreneurship ecosystems.
Rather than a traditional training programme, Catalyst Circle is built around structured reflection, shared experience, and honest conversations with peers facing similar challenges. During this 60-minute session, participants will gain an understanding of how peer mentoring can support both personal and organisational growth.
You will then hear directly from past participants from regions including Africa, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. They will share what motivated them to join, the key insights they gained, and what the live practice sessions were like. They will also reflect on how interacting with peers from different regions shaped their leadership.
Together, we’ll explore questions such as:
* What makes peer mentoring different from traditional professional development programmes?
* How can structured peer learning strengthen leadership and collaboration across the ecosystem?
* What does participation in the Catalyst Circle look like in practice?
We’ll also introduce the structure of the programme, expectations around participation, and key timelines for the upcoming cohort. The session will include space for live questions and open conversation, giving participants a chance to explore whether the programme is the right fit for them.
Whether you’re already part of the Pollinate Impact community or simply curious about connecting with peers across the ecosystem, this session offers a welcoming introduction to the Catalyst Circle and the community around it.

The Funding Flora: Conversations With Investors — Small Ticket Size Investors (Under USD 50k)
2026-04-29 09:00 - 10:00 UTC | Zoom (link will be emailed to participants)
A founder receives their first cheque. It’s not a massive round. It won’t make headlines. But it’s often the moment that changes everything.
For many early-stage ventures across the Global South, small-ticket investors are the first to take a chance – providing the early capital that allows founders to test ideas, build momentum, and move from possibility to proof. Yet despite their importance in the ecosystem, these investors are often misunderstood.
What do they actually look for when backing founders?
How do they think about risk and readiness at such early stages?
And how can incubators better position the startups they support to engage with this type of capital?
The Funding Flora is a series of conversations designed to unpack exactly these kinds of questions. Rather than focusing on pitch decks or funding announcements, the series brings together impact incubators and investors for open dialogue about how capital really flows across entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Each session explores a different type of investor and the role they play in the funding journey. This conversation focuses on small-ticket investors (under USD 50k) and the unique role they play in early-stage venture development.
In this session, we’ll be joined by Emmy Okkema of Vista Ventures and Keziah Kariuki of Mofund Africa, who will share insights from the investor side – how smaller investment decisions are made, what signals investors look for when evaluating founders, and how incubators can help strengthen those early funding pathways.

Together, we’ll explore questions such as:

How do small-ticket investors evaluate risk, traction, and founder readiness?
What role does this type of capital play in a startup’s growth journey?
What value do these investors aim to provide beyond funding?
Where do incubators and investors sometimes misunderstand each other’s expectations?

This is a space for honest, two-way dialogue. Participants are encouraged to bring their questions, experiences, and perspectives from working with founders across different regions and contexts.
If you’re supporting founders who are navigating their first funding conversations, this session offers a valuable window into how smaller investment decisions are really made.

In Full Bloom:The Catalyst Circle Graduation
2026-04-30 11:00 - 12:30 UTC
The Catalyst Circle Graduation marks the completion of the first peer mentoring cohort, creating space for participants to reflect on their learning, celebrate shared milestones, and recognise the contributions of both mentors and mentees. The session will highlight stories of growth, acknowledge achievements, and strengthen connections across the Catalyst Circle community. It also introduces opportunities for continued engagement, inviting participants to stay connected and shape the emerging alumni network beyond the programme.

Growth Check Labs: Solving for Growth Hurdles
2026-05-06 12:00 - 13:30 UTC
Running an incubator or accelerator means constantly balancing multiple priorities – supporting founders, building partnerships, managing teams, raising funds, and strengthening internal systems. In the middle of all this activity, it can be difficult to step back and ask a simple but important question:
Are we focusing on the right things to help our organisation grow stronger?
Growth Check Labs is designed to create space for that reflection.
In this interactive session, Pollinate Impact introduces a practical diagnostic tool from the Growth Guidance Program (GGP) – a structured framework that helps incubators and accelerators examine how their organisations are functioning and identify the areas that may need attention to grow more effectively.
Rather than a presentation or lecture, this session is designed as a hands-on experience. Participants will be guided through a diagnostic exercise that explores different dimensions of organisational growth – from leadership and governance to talent, systems, culture, and financial sustainability.
During the session, participants will:

Use a structured diagnostic tool to assess the current state of their organisation
Reflect on areas where their organisation is already strong
Identify one or two priority areas that may require deeper focus moving forward

To make the process more tangible, the session will also feature a live Growth Guidance walkthrough with Paul Basil, Special Advisor at Pollinate Impact and one of the program’s coaches. A participant will join Paul for a short guided conversation, offering everyone in the room a real example of how structured reflection can surface insights and practical next steps.
The diagnostic tool completed during the session is yours to keep – something you can take back to your team and use as a starting point for deeper conversations about your organisation’s direction.
If you’ve ever found yourself asking:

Are we focusing on the right priorities as an organisation?
What might be holding our incubator back from growing stronger?
Where should we invest our limited time and energy?

This session offers a practical place to begin.
Whether you’re already part of the Pollinate Impact community or simply curious about how structured reflection can strengthen incubators and accelerators, Growth Check Labs is open to anyone supporting entrepreneurs and ecosystem development.

Member Orientation 2026
2026-06-03 08:30 - 09:30 UTC | Zoom (link will be emailed to participants)
Member Orientation is designed to help you find your footing within the Pollinate Impact network. It’s a shared space for members to connect, understand how the network functions, and explore the tools, opportunities, and convenings available to support your work. The session offers practical guidance on how to engage meaningfully and make the most of being part of Pollinate. Our Community Choreographer, Ruod Ariete, and Membership Mobilizer, Sophia Morita, will guide you through all that’s available to you as a member of our Network, including fundraising resources, tools, and upcoming opportunities. During the session, you’ll explore:

Our Tool Library – Curated resources to help impact incubators run smarter, scale bigger, and better support their entrepreneurs.
Fundraising Opportunities – Including our curated grants and opportunities emailer, plus Fundraising Office Hours.
Convenings – Updates on learning spaces and member-only sessions with funders and ecosystem leaders.

The session also creates space to connect with fellow members navigating similar challenges and opportunities across the Global South. Join us to get oriented, understand what’s available, and begin engaging with the network in ways that matter most to your work.

Global Pollinate PotLuck
2026-10-06 - 2026-10-08 | Manila, Philippines, Manila, Philippines
