The just-concluded 2019 World Incubation Summit in Doha, Quatar has highlighted Africa’s potential not only to create jobs but also create strategic partnerships that will support youth and women-led agribusiness enterprises.
Running under the theme “Activate Your Innovation” the third edition of the World Incubation Summit brought together experts in the field of incubation all over the world.
The annual Summit was organized by UBI Global as a platform for industry professionals to share new insights from all over the world, explore topics related to incubation through educational sessions, connect with global peers and corporate players and strengthen cross-border relationships with groups facing similar opportunities and challenges.
The World Summit which was opened by Mr. Ali Amin the UBI Global Chief Executive Officer was also convened to recognize the world’s best-performing incubation programs included in the 2019–2020 World Benchmark Study.
The recognitions by continent as announced at this year’s Summit in Doha went to three top Agribusiness Incubators from each continent.
From Africa, the Consortium for University Responsiveness to Agribusiness Development (CURAD) and the Excel Hort Consult Agribusiness Incubator (EHCAI) from Uganda led the trio and were followed by the Launch Lab Incubator from South Africa.
The awards for EHCAI and CURAD respectively were received by Assoc. Prof. Alex Ariho the EHCAI Director-General and Mr. Apollo Segawa the CURAD Managing Director who were in attendance.
Other trios of Best incubators were selected from the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and North America where the selection criteria were also based on the attractiveness of the respective incubation programmes, the survival rate of graduate incubatees, economy enhancement, and competence development among other factors.
According to Assoc. Prof. Alex Ariho, the progress so far is owed to the unique incubation models and partnerships.
Assoc. Prof. Alex Ariho
“In our experience with Uganda, the strength of the incubators has come from development and adoption of unique incubation models including those accredited by the African Agribusiness Incubators Network and sharing of knowledge and capacity with partners like UBI Global, the Agencies of the Government of Uganda like the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Databank among others, academic institutions like Makerere University and centres like the Uganda Industrial Research Institute”
This recognition and celebration of excellence was adopted as part of the UBI Global strategy of promoting quality incubation.
UBI Global was founded in 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden to identify where all the innovation hubs are located worldwide and to learn and share what makes them successful. We launched the World Benchmark Study to find common traits and identify best practices. Our goal was to help business incubators and accelerators to improve their programs, become more attractive to start-ups and increase their overall efficiency and ultimately, their ability to attract investment
Mr Ali Amin, CEO UBI Global
The events which ran from the 4th to the 7th of November in Doha also featured panel discussions, workshops, networking events and matchmaking activities designed to provide continental representatives with crucial business intelligence, relevant connections, business model analyses, partnership and sponsorship opportunities.
The background to this milestone and more on the history of agribusiness incubation in Africa will be shared at the 2020 Africa Agribusiness Incubation Conference and Expo which Uganda was selected to host from the 25th to the 27th of March 2020.