1. Who‘s business is it, anyway?
Business incubation lessons learned in CIS
Kiev, April 2008
Stefan Schandera,
infoDev business incubator initiative
regional facilitator for the ECA region

2. History of business incubation in CIS
Georgia and others
Armenia
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz R.
Ukraine, Belarus
Uzbekistan
Russia 2

3. ~ 300 History of business incubation in CIS Georgia and others Armenia
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz R.
Ukraine, Belarus
Uzbekistan
Incubators in CIS 2008:
~ 300
simplified estimation
Russia 3

4. ~ 100 History of business incubation in CIS Georgia and others Armenia
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz R.
Ukraine, Belarus
Uzbekistan
Incubators in CIS 2008:
~ 100
simplified estimation
Russia 4

5. Business incubation in CIS: 100
Why (not)
Became business centers, doing well with rental fees
Have lost buildings, and permanent clients (tenants)
Donor or government support dried out
Busy with their future, not with their clients
Why
Facility and knowledge services
Positioning and local networking
Policy drivers 5

6. Business incubation in CIS: 100
  -
 
 ?
Private/NGO
Governm.
Donors
Academy
relevance

Impact and sustainability tendency
Funding
Private/NGO Governm. Academy Donors
Management 6

7. Business incubation in CIS: 100
Sustainability by Mission
Market orientation of services and positioning versus social mission and crowding out
Strong local networks and committment
Sustainability by Motivation
Accountability and incentives
Strong and entrepreneurial manager
Financial Sustainability
Providing stability, not safety
Sustainability by Mission
Sustainability by Motivation
Financial
Sustainability 7
Rustam Lalkaka (2004): Business incubator sustainability

8. Business incubation in CIS: 100
Conclusions
Business is first: Make the tenants and their investors the market, not government and donors
Incubators needs parents, too: Business incubation is no short-term business
Incubators needs parents, II: Local champions and networkers 8

9. infoDev and ECAbit infoDev 9
Information for development program, incubator initiative
ECAbit
Eastern European and Central Asian network of business incubators and technology park
More than 40 members including associations from 14 countries 9

10. Thank you very much
for your interest!