Incubator Tool Library

A collection of vetted tools and resources to help impact incubators run smarter, scale bigger, and better support their entrepreneurs.

Pollinate Impact Tool Library

Welcome to your shortcut to the good stuff.

When we say โ€œtoolโ€, we mean anything that helps incubators thriveโ€”software, templates, handbooks, or any resource that lets you level up your game. Weโ€™ve curated the best for impact incubators across the Global South, so skip the search, grab what you need, and get back to making magic happen.ย 

Share your tool! If you have a tool, template, or resource that others could benefit from, submit it for review.ย 

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Scaling Toolkit

The Scaling Impact Toolkit is organised in accordance with the three stages of our unique and proved methodology โ€“ strategy, model, and implementation.
Helps you achieve a particular objective, whether itโ€™s getting your scaling plans off the ground, becoming financially sustainable, identifying your ideal pathway to scale and the partners you need to support your model or other challenges you may be currently encountering.

Organization: Spring Impact

Preliminary Assessment Scoring Worksheet

Organization: Villgro

ESO Mapping Database

Mapping and streamlining of what incubators are offering to entrepreneurs at various stages, sectors, and geographies. Sharing information about hubs themselves and other related data, such as who has incubated whom helps us:
1. Understand if the entrepreneur is approaching you in need of additional support for the next stage of their business.
2. Understand if the entrepreneur is accessing another similar program within the same stage of their growth.
3. Identify potential partners with complimentary skills sets.

Organization: Pollinate Impact

Best Practices for Alumni Engagement

A collaborative resource for ESOs to ensure continued engagement with alumni after the program. This resource is a collection of both the key challenges and the best practices that have been effective in addressing the common challenges faced by ESOs globally in engaging alumni after they have graduated from the program.

Organization: Pollinate Impact

Best Practices for Screening, Selection & Due Diligence

This resource is a collection of both the key challenges and the best practices that have been effective in addressing the common challenges faced by ESOs globally in the process of screening, selection, and due diligence of entrepreneurs

Organization: Pollinate Impact

Guide to Impact Incubation & Acceleration

This is an interactive resource for entrepreneurial support
organisations (ESOs) who are running impact-focused
incubators or accelerators in the Asia-Pacific, and
beyond

Organization: Frontier Incubators Program

Venture Development Framework (VDF)

To describe the development of early-stage science- and technology-based ventures.

Organization: Venturewell

ynos

YNOS is India’s largest information and analytics platform for early-stage startups and investors. The platform uses advanced data integration tools, analytical search methods, and powerful filters to screen and search startups, investors, and incubators across hundreds of industries and sectors.

Organization: IIT Madras

Gender Lens Incubation and Acceleration Toolkit

(GLIA) toolkit is an interactive resource, to guide accelerators and incubators (or โ€˜intermediariesโ€™) through the journey of uncovering how our activities impact, and are experienced by, different gendered groups.

Organization: Sasakawa Peace Foundation, ygap, Conveners.org and SecondMuse

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Babele

Babele is the online platform to manage your mission-driven innovation ecosystems & effectively engage stakeholders

Organization: Babele

Angel Networks in Emerging Markets: A Guide for Development Institutions

Even as these ecosystem-building efforts generate progress, accessing sufficient
financial capital remains a critical challenge for entrepreneurs at this early, high-
risk stage. Increasing the flow of private capital into early stage enterprises to help
them bridge the pioneer gap is a key pillar of PACEโ€™s work to drive broader economic
development in emerging markets. This guide was commissioned by PACE to identify
specific leverage points for USAID and other development institutions to support an
instrumental source of early-stage capital โ€“ local angel investor networks.

Organization: SEAD @ DUKE & CASE

Decoding the ABCs of Effective Enterprise Acceleration: 10 Lessons from SEAD

Like learning a new language, scaling an enterprise is full of unknowns, imperfect attempts and lessons for the future. Enterprise accelerators often serve as translators between their participants and the outside world. In doing so, accelerators must decipher between what they assume will be effective and what the enterprises they serve want and need. How can enterprise accelerators crack the code?

Organization: SEAD @ DUKE & CASE

ESO Mapping Fatigue In Kenya

Are we experiencing โ€˜Mapping Fatigueโ€™ with the BIG question being what is the mapping end game?. Is it just a question of counting heads or is there a bigger play in terms of informing policy or identifying gaps?

Organization: Victor Otieno Agolla

Social Investment Toolkit

In 8 modules, the toolkit guides entrepreneurs on each step of the way, from how to define your social mission to creating a compelling investor pitch. It also shows entrepreneurs how social investors think and what they are looking for. There is also a social investment readiness test to help entrepreneurs work out which areas to focus on.

Organization: Social Investment Toolkit

Financial Sustainability of Startup Incubators

The primary objective of this report is to
outline various revenue streams (not to be conflated with funding sources) accessible to
startup incubators and recommend a revenue mix which ensures that the incubator remains
focused on its core activities related to provision of entrepreneurial support to its incubatee
startups.

Organization: Atal Innovation Mission & Niti Aayog

Best Practices for Designing Inclusive Programs & Support

This resource is a collection of both the key challenges and the best practices that have been effective in addressing the common challenges faced by ESOs globally in designing inclusive programs to support the diverse entrepreneurs in the ecosystem.

Organization: Pollinate Impact

Business Incubator Managers Incubation Management Training

The Business Incubation Management Training Program was created for business incubator managers and stakeholders in developing countries and emerging markets. Through its network of certified facilitators, infoDev has helped more than one thousand people increase their understanding of business incubator models, how to finance an incubator, monitoring and evaluation, mentoring programs, and more. The training program was designed for face-to-face delivery with each module requiring one day of classroom learning.

Organization: infoDev, World Bank & IFC

Incubator Collaborative Learnings Document

A compilation of the challenges and struggles of incubators and accelerators in the Global South as well as proposed solutions sourced from the dozens of online meetings, and in-person workshops hosted by Pollinate Impact. Spoiler Alert – Irrespective of the geographich location or the type of entrepreneur supported, the challenges and the solutions largely remain consistent across the field.

Organization: Pollinate Impact

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