Towards Effective and Sustainable Business and Technology Incubation Models Case of Tanzania

Abstract

Business and Technology Incubation is one amongst the initiatives geared to promote innovation and entrepreneurship for socio-economic development across the world. Developing countries particularly from Sub Saharan Africa have adopted the incubation concept from developed countries; however their effectiveness and sustainability have not been very successful. This study aimed at exploring the fitness of developed countries’ incubation models to developing countries’ context by conducting an in-depth situational analysis of Tanzanian incubation models. The data were collected through interviews with incubator managers and directors, focus group discussion with incubatees, onsite and documentary analysis. The study revealed that appropriate adaptation of the incubation concept to suit the local conditions contribute to the effectiveness and sustainability of the incubation. It further revealed a difference in the adaptation approaches among incubators located within the same local environment. Therefore, innovative adaptation approaches are called for to improve success of incubation in developing countries during establishment and implementation phases, respectively.