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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 “tool”, we mean anything that helps incubators thrive—software, templates, handbooks, or any resource that lets you level up your game. We’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. 

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Developing a Theory of Change: Practical Guidance

  • 2 Views

Overview of TOC concepts, and language, concrete steps and provides exercises, examples and resources to help groups aiming to develop and use a theory of change.
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  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: The ANNE E Casey Foundation

Scaling Pathways

  • 4 Views

Aims to equip enterprises to more effectively navigate the journey to scale by capturing tactical insights and hard-won lessons from social enterprises.

  • Category: Scaling & Growth
  • Type: Best Practices & Lessons Learned

Organization: DUKE

CASE Scale Readiness Diagnostic

  • 6 Views

The Scale Readiness Diagnostic helps your impact organization assess relative areas of strength and priorities for improvement as you navigate your scale journey.

  • Category: Scaling & Growth
  • Type: Templates

Organization: DUKE

Impact Measurement & Management for the SDGs

  • 4 Views

The course was designed around the fundamental elements of the SDG Impact Standards, the only management standards that embed sustainability at the core of an organization in the holistic way intended by the creators of the SDGs. The course demonstrates how the SDG Impact Standards help organizations align with responsible business principles, other standards, and best practices in impact management.

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

Organization: DUKE

Accubate

  • 5 Views

Accubate is a cloud-native enterprise-grade innovation management platform which offers an advanced suite of features every step of the way from ideation through to implementation.

  • Category: Scaling & Growth
  • Type: Technology Platforms / Software

Organization: Cunomial

Babele

  • 4 Views

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

  • Category: Scaling & Growth
  • Type: Technology Platforms / Software

Organization: Babele

Angel Networks in Emerging Markets: A Guide for Development Institutions

  • 3 Views

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 PACE’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 – local angel investor networks.

  • Category: Donor & Investor Relations
  • Type: Handbooks

Organization: SEAD @ DUKE & CASE

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

  • 4 Views

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?

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

Organization: SEAD @ DUKE & CASE

ESO Mapping Fatigue In Kenya

  • 3 Views

Are we experiencing ‘Mapping Fatigue’ 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?

  • Category: Pipeline Sourcing & Selection
  • Type: Media Resources

Organization: Victor Otieno Agolla

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Women-Inclusive Return on Investment Calculations

  • 3 Views

This work addresses a gap in evidence from firms in lower—and middle-income countries (LMICs) on the ROI of women’s inclusion. This series profiles select small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have implemented women-inclusive (WI) initiatives and can demonstrate returns on investment (ROI).

The case study series features:

1) Grean World: How an Ethiopian energy company utilized female sales agents to attract female consumers and tackle last mile distribution.
2) Okeba: How a Uganda agribusiness provided care support to its staff and ultimately reduced costs.

Other reports include:
3) Navigating Firm Selection for Women-Inclusive ROI—A Learning Note: Provides key insights MSP gained from the process of vetting and selecting companies for WI-ROI.
4) Closing the Gap: A Synthesis Report on the Cases for the ROI of Women’s Inclusion: This report includes the findings, benefits, and considerations of the WI-ROI approach, which can be applied during implementation and to continue building on the evidence for returns on women-inclusive investments.

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

Organization: William Davidson Institute at University of Michigan

Mentoring Skills & Practice Course

  • 2 Views

Learn and practice the science and art of impactful mentoring and coaching with our self-paced Mentoring Skills and Practice Course. You’ll learn how to build meaningful relationships and have purposeful conversations, provide constructive feedback, and create a safe and supportive environment where people can learn, grow and perform.

  • Category: Talent
  • Type: Trainings & Capacity Building

Organization: The Human Edge

Mentoring Question Toolkit

  • 3 Views

Compilation of a number of impactful mentoring questions for you to explore together, support each other during difficult times, deepen your mentoring relationships and enhance your mentoring conversations. These questions are also excellent if you wish to self-mentor yourself and identify and learn about your own interferences, needs and areas of opportunity and growth.

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

Organization: The Human Edge

Mentoring Entrepreneurs

  • 5 Views

Equip people with the skills, attributes, and behavious to be authentic and effective mentors.

  • Category: Enterprise Support & Portfolio Management
  • Type: Media Resources

Organization: The Human Edge

Incubation Replicaiton Guide

  • 5 Views

The Incubation Replicaiton Guide is organized in four modules: Setting up an Incubator, Incubation Lifecycle, Operating an Incubator, Governance. These modules help you in all aspects of establishing your incubator, setting up effective processes, and having good governance of the organization.

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

Organization: Villgro

Scaling Toolkit

  • 8 Views

The Scaling Impact Toolkit is organised in accordance with the three stages of our unique and proved methodology – strategy, model, and implementation.
Helps you achieve a particular objective, whether it’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.

  • Category: Scaling & Growth
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: Spring Impact

Preliminary Assessment Scoring Worksheet

  • 7 Views
  • Category: Pipeline Sourcing & Selection
  • Type: Templates

Organization: Villgro

ESO Mapping Database

  • 3 Views

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.

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

Organization: Pollinate Impact

Best Practices for Alumni Engagement

  • 3 Views

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.

  • Category: Enterprise Support & Portfolio Management
  • Type: Best Practices & Lessons Learned

Organization: Pollinate Impact

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