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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. 

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

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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 “Circularity 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 “Embedding Circularity” 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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ENVOY – Making Incubation Management Simple

  • 8 Views

Envoy is a purpose built incubation and programme management software designed for entrepreneurial support organisations and development finance institutions. It enables ESO’s funders and DFI’s to govern complex incubation portfolios with clarity, confidence and measurable control. It reduces the administrative burden, improves funding oversight, preserves institutional knowledge and delivers credible, real time portfolio management. The result is measurable entrepreneur progression, transparent governance, audit ready reporting and the ability to scale programmes sustainably without sacrifice. Beyond programme management, Envoy also gives entrepreneurs their own free business operating system. This supports them in defveloping their business strategy and managing the execution of both strategy and day to day operations.

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

Organization: Raizcorp

Lend For Good

  • 17 Views

LendForGood is a global platform that harnesses the crowd to efficiently provide affordable, connected and engaged capital to meet the funding demands of impact enterprises. Think of LendForGood as a marketplace or as an exchange, where people who want to lend money to impact enterprises can find them, and can find other people to team up with to lend money to impact enterprises. LendForGood provides the information, connections and technology that enables people to do this easily, and at scale.

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

Organization: LendForGood

Vula Together

  • 23 Views

Vula connects tens of thousands of African SMEs and Startups to the funding they deserve—fast and easy. Now you can spend less time searching and more time growing.

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

Organization: Vula.vc

DayTwo

  • 15 Views

Most entrepreneurs are resourceful, but not always visible, and visibility is the doorway to fundability and investability.  ONOW’s fintech platform “DayTwo” turns everyday SME behavior, in the form of photos, chat, and voice notes, into clean, dated financial records and lender-ready signals. ESOs use it to see real cash health, coach smarter, and bridge entrepreneurs to capital with less friction.

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

Organization: ONOW

Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Diagnostic Toolkit

  • 55 Views

This resource is a practical methodology to understand how entrepreneurship ecosystems work, identify their structural conditions, and guide evidence-based decision-making.

The model provides a clear way to analyze entrepreneurship ecosystems based on their core elements: the eight structural domains, the participation of key actors, the stages of the entrepreneurial journey, and digital maturity as a cross-cutting component. It enables the identification of strengths, gaps, bottlenecks, and opportunities for coordinated action in each territory.

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

Organization: ANDE

Reimagining the Future of Entrepreneurship Support Organisations in East Africa

  • 69 Views

The report identifies the interconnected challenges facing entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs), including incubators and accelerators. This WDI report takes a solutions-oriented approach for better serving entrepreneurs, maximizing the impact of limited donor resources, and strengthening the pipeline of investable companies.

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

Organization: William Davidson Institute

Supporting Waste Management & Circular Economy Innovation

  • 36 Views

The toolkit brings together lessons from Kenya’s waste and circular economy ecosystem and global best practices. It is designed to be practical, adaptable, and action-oriented.

  • Clear explanations of waste management and circular economy principles
  • Guidance on designing and running effective support programmes for waste-focused SGBs
  • Real-world case studies from Kenya and beyond
  • Best practices across the full enterprise support journey — from recruitment and programme design to post-programme support and ecosystem engagement
  • Tools and frameworks for measuring environmental, social, and business impact
  • Category: Incubator Design, Strategy & Impact
  • Type: Toolkits

Organization: ANDE

Application Form Template & Program Information Kit

  • 21 Views

This is a sample of a program application form for a University based incubator. It also includes clear description of the program, what is included in the program, and the expectations from applicant entrepreneurs.

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

Organization: Oxford University Innovation

Building Strong Funder Relationships & Navigating Funding Rejections

  • 21 Views

Every nonprofit leader knows the thrill of submitting a compelling grant proposal—and the sting of receiving a “no.” But what if rejection could be a catalyst for deeper alignment, stronger relationships, and future funding success?

That was the heart of our recent Masterclass hosted on the Catalyst NOW platform, “Building Stronger Funder Relationships and Navigating Funding Rejections,” featuring wisdom from sector leaders Tia Hodges, President & CEO, MetLife Foundation, Tanya Jaramilla, Director of Impact & Operations, Julian Grace Foundation, and Natalie Rekstad, Founder & CEO of Black Fox Global.

  • Category: Donor & Investor Relations
  • Type: Trainings & Capacity Building

Organization: Black Fox Global

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