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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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Unlocking Pipeline Africa. A Playbook for Entrepreneur Support in Africa

  • 18 Views

The Unlocking Pipeline Playbook compiles lessons, case studies, and trends gathered from our pioneering Village Capital’s Communities Africa program, which brought together leading African entrepreneur ecosystem builders to share best practices.

  • Category: Pipeline Sourcing & Selection
  • Type: Handbooks, Playbooks, & Guides

Organization: Village Capital

SMARTER SYSTEMS: How Tweaking Your Diligence Process Can Unlock Overlooked opportunities ACCELERATOR IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE

  • 30 Views

We found that there are discrepancies in how investors evaluate men-led and women-led
startups, potentially leading them to overlook promising startups and overestimate less
promising startups. This implementation guide outlines three steps we found that accelerators can incorporate into their selection processes to consistently evaluate all startups more accurately.

  • Category: Pipeline Sourcing & Selection
  • Type: Handbooks, Playbooks, & Guides

Organization: Village Capital

Capital Explorer

  • 7 Views

The objective of Capital Explorer is to equip and support entrepreneurs in exploring which funding options may be a good fit for their business and help them identify capital providers offering those options.

  • Category: Financial Sustainability
  • Type: Technology Platforms & Software

Organization: Village Capital

Product improvement tool

  • 10 Views

Use behavioral science principles to share user insights

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

Organization: Maha Accelerator

SCALE Framework

  • 15 Views

Small and growing businesses (SGBs) profoundly impact economies and
livelihoods, particularly in emerging markets. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that enterprise support organizations (ESOs) create jobs and increase the productivity of SGBs.
However, the impact of ESO programs varies considerably.

In 2013, Argidius set out to identify what works best in BDS to enable SGBs to
grow and create employment. In doing so, they drew not only from their own
portfolio but also from extensive academic literature and the experience of
outside programs.Five fundamental considerations emerged that distinguished high-performing Enterprise Support programs (those that cost-effectively delivered SGB growth). These five considerations have been codified as SCALE.

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

Organization: Argidius Foundation

Enable

  • 21 Views

Making entrepreneur support affordable through the Enable platform. A platform that equips ESOs to provide targeted and personalized support to hundreds of MSMEs simultaneously.

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

Organization: ONOW

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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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