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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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Pre-Seed + Seed Investor Database

  • 12 Views

A database of 1,600+ early stage lead investors curated by Michael Houck, a founder whose built startups that have raised from a16z and others that have bootstrapped to seven-figures of revenue.

  • Category: Donor & Investor Relations
  • Type: Research, Reports, Data & Insights

Organization: Founding Journey

Business Coaching Playbook

  • 14 Views

This guide will assist you on your journey as a mentor, and gives you all the guidance you need to perform your duties as a mentor. It looks at proactive mentorship, the mentorship process and provides tips on how to be a good mentor. The guide also outlines the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Framework to coaching. The guide concludes by sharing other mentorsโ€™ approaches to mentorship and key lessons that they have learned on their mentorship journey.

  • Category: Enterprise Support & Portfolio Management
  • Type: Handbooks, Playbooks, & Guides

Organization: Allan Gray Orbis Foundation

The measurement of success in a business incubation projec

  • 9 Views

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact and success of a business incubationproject on its participants. The study aims to consider the impact of the project in terms of developingand supporting entrepreneurial activity within Wales. It seeks to build on and enhance existingbusiness incubation literature and contribute to the ๏ฌeld by identifying โ€œgoodโ€ practice and considersthe measurement of success within such projects

  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Research, Reports, Data & Insights

Organization: University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, UK

ANALYSIS OF THE RIO DE JANEIRO STATE INCUBATOR NETWORK (ReINC): CHARACTERISTICS AND INFLUENCE ON THE ORGANIZATION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF INCUBATORS

  • 12 Views

The emergence of incubators in Brazil occurred from the bottom-up in the context of the down-fall of the military government and the restoration of civil society in the 1980s. To develop its activities the incubators in 1987 organized a civil association called ANPROTEC. This national association encouraged the setting up of regional/state incubator networks, to bring together local incubators, exchange experience and seek support at the regional level. This paper presents the initial results of a study that is in course, the aim of which is to assess how the regional incubator network in the state of Rio de Janeiro, known as ReINC, has contributed to sustainability, based on theoretical concepts of social networks and social capital.

  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Research, Reports, Data & Insights

Organization: Rio de Janeiro State University

Setting up Startup Incubator In India [Metrics & Milestones for Successful Incubator Development]

  • 13 Views

A whitepaper for the Department of Science & Technology (DST) to institute standards for the establishment and working of incubators in India, titled โ€œGuidelines โ€“ Metrics & Milestones for Successful Incubator Development.โ€

The whitepaper aims at setting some of the much needed guidelines for incubation of startups in India and includes recommendations to set the motion for analysis, discussion & debate for policy review and modifications, for the benefit of both funding and host organizations that set up incubators.

Though developed for the government of India, this White Paper provides useful insights which incubators in the African context can take with them. Sections 2 and 3 are particularly useful. Their practical insights provide adaptable frameworks for incubators. It explains how to measure the success of the incubator, deal with commonly faced challenges, and conceptualise long-term impact.

  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Research, Reports, Data & Insights

Organization: Wadhwani Foundation NEN

Handbook for Non-Profit Incubator Managers

  • 14 Views

This handbook provides a deep explanation on how to set up and run an incubator. It provides examples, step-by-step guides, and frameworks. The annexures in particular provide useful templates for determining elements of a successful and effective incubator.

  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Handbooks, Playbooks, & Guides

Organization: Launch League. Published by GIZ & Authored by CIIE

Greentech

  • 14 Views

These resources cover key concepts in the green economy, and give insight into how to support green businesses and skills development.

  • Category: Enterprise Support & Portfolio Management
  • Type: Trainings & Capacity Building

Organization: Launch Leage

Launch League Cybersecurity and Data Protection

  • 18 Views

The Cybersecurity and Data Protection toolkit, developed by the British High Commission Pretoria and the South African Department for Communications Digital Technology, contains free open licence tools, templates and guides that equip small businesses with the foundational training materials and resources they need to increase their cybersecurity resilience and become compliant with the POPI Act.

  • Category: Enterprise Support & Portfolio Management
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: Launch Leage

Launch League Let’s Talk Financing

  • 12 Views

The Launch League Letโ€™s Talk Financing toolkit, developed by the UK-South Africa Tech Hub and Viridian, is a set of open licence resources for hubs to use in running a workshop or guiding a conversation with entrepreneurs through a step-by-step process.

By completing their Financing Card, entrepreneurs will understand their businessโ€™ stage, revenue model, assets and risk appetite, and growth plans โ€” and therefore determine what financing options are available to them.

  • Category: Enterprise Support & Portfolio Management
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: Launch Leage

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Landscape Analysis of the Uganda Innovation Ecosystem

  • 16 Views

The report provides an overview of the research on the Entrepreneurship Support Organisations (ESOs) in Uganda, how they are set up, what they offer, to whom, and how. It particularly looks at the state and opportunity of collaboration among stakeholders in the ecosystem, especially among the ESOs, but also with the public sector. It gives a list of 16 recommendations to bring the Ugandan entrepreneurship ecosystem forward and ensure that entrepreneurs get better support faster.

  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Research, Reports, Data & Insights

Organization: Response Innovation Lab & Start Up Uganda

Lean Research: Human Centered Approach to Research

  • 18 Views

Lean Research is an approach and an initiative to improve the practice of data collection involving people and communities in development and humanitarian contexts.

  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: D-Lab

Lean Data Approaches to Measure Social Impact

  • 12 Views

In this course, learn the Lean Data methodology, a new way to collect insights from customers in order to measure your outcomes and make decisions that maximize impact.

  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Trainings & Capacity Building

Organization: Acumen

Embedding Circularity in Entrepreneurial Support: Learning from Pilot Programs

  • 17 Views

The document enlists the best practices and recommendations for incubators and accelerators to support circularity entrepreneurs. Impact Hub launched the โ€œCircularity by Design” program in 2021 with the hypothesis that just like profitability is a design principle for most businesses, circularity can also become a design principle for enterprises. Impact Hub developed the โ€œEmbedding Circularityโ€ toolkit for incubators and accelerators, provided capacity building to business support organizations, and validated the tools with entrepreneurs and businesses through pilot incubation and acceleration programs with 12 Impact Hubs in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.

  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Best Practices & Lessons Learned

Organization: Impact Hub

Tools for Designing Inclusive Entrepreneurship Support Programmes

  • 10 Views

The Toolkit is organised in line with the common
steps of designing and running a business support
programme. You can easily navigate these different
steps below and jump directly to where you are at,
or you can read from beginning to end to get a better
grasp of the many facets and perspectives when it
comes to inclusion and accessibility in incubation and
business support. For each step, different tools are
listed and you can pick out what best fits your reality.

  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: Impact Hub

Collection of Best Practices in Inclusive Entrepreneurship Support Programmes

  • 10 Views

The document aims to provide actionable insights for incubators & accelerators, NGOs, policymakers, funders, and other stakeholders to be applied in the design and implementation of inclusive incubation and support programs, strategies, and/or policies.

  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Best Practices & Lessons Learned

Organization: Impact Hub

Toolkit for Inclusive and Relevant Business Support for Indigenous Entrepreneurs

  • 20 Views

This guide is for Indigenous support organizations who walk alongside Indigenous entrepreneurs, helping them grow ideas into realities that honor their cultural, social, and economic aspirations. It’s a starting point for aligning business support with the deep-rooted values and needs of Indigenous communities.

  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: Impact Hub

HerVenture

  • 13 Views

HerVenture is an award-winning app designed to fit business learning into the busy lives of women entrepreneurs. It offers essential business training and support on topics like launching a business, accessing finance, expanding market access, e-commerce, and digital marketing. The app targets women in low or middle-income countries who are starting or running micro or small businesses in any sector.

HerVenture provides a personalized learning journey for each entrepreneur, delivering content in bite-sized, easily digestible formats like swipe-able cards and quizzes, which can be accessed offline. The app also facilitates networking among users and informs them about local business events. Through HerVenture, women gain foundational business knowledge, skills, confidence, and support to start, grow, and digitize their businesses.

  • Category: Enterprise Support & Portfolio Management
  • Type: Technology Platforms & Software

Organization: Cherie Blair Foundation for Women

Creating programs for Women Entrepreneurs with Disabilities

  • 9 Views

This is a guide with real life stories of women in Cambodia living in the coastal communities who rely on fishing as their primary
source of income, who are part of a program co-implemented by Agile Development Group and Aide Et Action Cambodia(AEA) in the purpose of improving their socio-economic development

  • Category: Enterprise Support & Portfolio Management
  • Type: Handbooks, Playbooks, & Guides

Organization: Agile DG

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