Monday, April 16, 2007

Introduction to Incubator Programs in Ghana


This post is the first in a series of post by me that will focus on Incubator programs in Ghana. In researching material I came across two incubator programs in Ghana that are of interest, The BusyIncubator and the Oguaa Business Incubator.

The BusyIncubator is run by BusyInternet Ghana, with support from infoDev, which is a consortium of public international development organizations and other partners, facilitated by a secretariat at the World Bank, which is a founder of and major donor to infoDev.

InfoDev’s Incubator Initiative received special funding from the Government of Japan. InfoDev supported BusyIncubator with $300,000 as part of grants for capacity building for existing Incubator programmes around the world.

The BusyIncubator provides a physical location, technical and business advisory services and assistance raising funds.

The BusyIncubator to date has successfully incubated 5 companies. The incubated companies vary in the services and products offered, but are technology oriented which is the focus of BusyIncubator.

EVENT PmG
EVENT PmG is into the sale of unique Invitation Cards for all occasions including Wedding & engagement, corporate functions, anniversary, party and graduation.

TOP UP BUSINESS SERVICES
A business offering the most comprehensive range of business services under one roof.

CHILDNET ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING CO. LTD.
Childnet electronic publishing is pioneering interactive educational software development on CD-ROMs in Ghana.

Runway 14 (www.runway14.com)
We are a company of creative professionals working innovatively with technology. Animators, Copywriters, Designers, Musicians, New Media Artists, Programmers, Television Producers and Video Jockeys – Conceptual urban philosophers

Both infoDev and the BusyInternet site indicate there are 6 tenant companies. I have been unable to verify whether these “tenant companies” are also incubated (I sent 2 emails, waiting for a reply). I however think the 6 companies are just companies using the premises of BusyInternet as their business location.

These are
Data Management International Inc. (www.dmi-inc.com)
EshopAfrica (www.eshopafrica.com)
Interface Technologies (www.interfaceghana.com)
Soft Internet Solutions (www.sis.gh)
Graphicolor, Ghana (www.graphicolorghana.com)

This incubator program seems to be destined for bigger things with the introduction of a virtual incubator, which aims to help other start-ups which cannot be physically housed on the premises of BusyInternet.

To end I wish to say I’ve decided to get up off my butt (Big as it is) and make time (OUCH!!) to visit the incubatees (CHALLENGE: See how many nouns, verbs etc you can form from ‘incubate’) and interview them for this blog.


DREAM BIG!

Links
(Click to Download a PDF about InfoDev)
www.infodev.org
www.busyinternet.com/incubator