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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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HerVenture

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

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

Organization: Agile DG

Disability Innovation:Empowering Enterpreneurs

The report delves into the current state of the disability innovation ecosystem, highlighting the accomplishments and the importance of the perspective of leaders within the innovation ecosystem while identifying avenues for potential improvement.

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

Organization: Village Capital

Global Report on Assitive Technology

The Global report on assistive technology presents a comprehensive dataset and analysis of current assistive technology access, drawing the attention of governments and civil society to the need for, and benefit of, assistive technology, including its return on investment. The Global report sets out ten recommendations for improving access to assistive technology

  • Category: Incubator Design
  • Type: Research

Organization: WHO - World Health Organization

Disability Etiquette

This is a guide used to help ESO’s understand the acceptable language and behaviour when working with persons who are abled differently. From those who are visually impaired, physical impairment or mental impairment

  • Category: Incubator Design
  • Type: Handbooks

Organization: Disability.in

Decision Making Tool

Software can help make important decisions efficiently and fairly, and create powerful decision-making tools you can trust. This can be applied by ESOs in making decisions related to enterprise selection for a cohort.

  • Category: Pipeline Sourcing & Selection
  • Type: Technology Platforms / Software

Organization: 1000Minds

Women-Inclusive Return on Investment Calculations

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

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

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

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How to Build Organizational Development

Investing in organisational development (OD) to improve impact and sustainability is critical. However, a lot remains to be done for funders and NGOs to more intentionally invest in OD to build a stronger, more resilient NGO sector. This is a long-term journey that requires a commitment from NGOs and funders to engage in honest reflection and continuous action. This toolkit provides some initial guidance and resources to stakeholders in the sector to advance impact through OD.

  • Category: Governance
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: The BridgeSpan Group

Scenario Planning for Non-Profits

The scenario planning process helps organization leaders navigate uncertainty while providing structure
around making key strategic decisions. It is critical for organization leaders to engage in an iterative
scenario planning process that accounts for factors outside of your control (e.g., shelter-in-place
restrictions and the pace of economic recovery) and actions and options within your control (e.g.,
operational shifts and cost reductions).

  • Category: Governance
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: The BridgeSpan Group

Non-Profit Board Resources Center

A nonprofit board’s responsibilities run the gamut—from fiduciary oversight to strategic planning and from executive evaluation to fundraising. This resource center from The Bridgespan Group and BoardSource provides guidance on how to find a rewarding board position, how to build a board, and what it takes to be an effective nonprofit board.

  • Category: Governance
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: The BridgeSpan Group

Non-Profit Job Description Toolkit

The job description is your primary vehicle for announcing the open position to external and internal audiences, and is a valuable tool for finding candidates best-suited to your organization’s needs. This toolkit features a wide range of sample job descriptions for senior nonprofit leadership roles, including CEO/executive director, COO, CFO, board member and more.

  • Category: Talent
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: The BridgeSpan Group

Non-Profit Leadership Development Toolkit

Nonprofits and NGOs around the world are more focused than ever on developing and retaining the future leaders who will steward their
organizations toward greater impact. While a robust “corporate” leadership development system may seem out of reach due to resources
or capacity, a few simple practices can go a long way. In Bridgespan’s work supporting hundreds of organizations’ talent development, we have
found that the key to low-cost, effective leadership development is to explicitly define the competencies most important to the organization,
and then to work with emerging leaders on tailored development plans that help them build those competencies over time.

  • Category: Talent
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: The BridgeSpan Group

Non-Profit Hiring Toolkit

Hiring decisions are challenging, and engaging in a thorough process requires time and energy.

In addition, every hiring decision contains an element of risk and ultimately requires a leap of faith. No matter how well you know your final candidate, it’s impossible to be 100 percent certain how he or she will perform in the new role. However, executing a disciplined, rigorous search process like the one outlined in this tool kit will help to mitigate the risks.

  • Category: Talent
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: The BridgeSpan Group

Missing Middle – Segmenting Enterprises to Better Understand Their Financial Needs Summary Report

SGBs typically seek external financing in the range of $20,000 to $2 million for a range of purposes—to support early stage growth, expand operations, finance working capital, and acquire new assets— but struggle to access forms of capital that meet their needs. According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), small and medium enterprises in low- and lower-middle income-countries face a $930 billion financing gap (see “Enterprise credit gap” graphic on page 5).1 Accessing financing is particularly challenging for certain types of SGBs, such as early stage ventures and businesses with moderate growth prospects, that are stuck squarely in the “missing middle” of enterprise finance: They are too big for microfinance, too small or risky for traditional bank lending, and lack the growth, return, and exit potential sought by venture capitalists. Such businesses often face a fundamental mismatch between available financing and their specific needs.

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

Organization: Collaborative for Frontier Finance

Youth Entrepreneurship Framework

To fully unlock the potential of youth entrepreneurship, we must craft policies and programs that are tailored to the specific needs of young people. When done effectively, youth entrepreneurship can become a driving force for inclusive prosperity. This report’s effort to provide a framework for such policy creation is
both inspiring and crucial. By empowering young entrepreneurs, we can catalyze job creation and economic diversification, especially in low-income countries where traditional employment opportunities may be limited.

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

Organization: Youth Business International YBI

STARTUP MENTORSHIP PRACTICES IN THE AFRICAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM

This report serves to present the state of the mentorship and expert coaching landscape in the agricultural and food industry sector for
startups.

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

Organization: Impact Hub & GIZ

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