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IT Business Incubator

Tenant Selection and Graduation
The Ghana Multimedia Incubator Centre will eventually accommodate from 15 to 20 innovative projects. It provides working space, administrative services, management skills, and professional and commercial assistance with the objective of helping the projects’ successful transition to commercial viability.

To gain entry into the centre, prospective tenants must propose a new product or service based on R&D and suitable for commercialization. Upon approval, the Ministry of Communications in collaboration with the EDIF, the Ministry of Private Sector Development, the Ministry of Trade & Industries and the Ministry of Finance would provide grants and support to each project/inventor over a two year span. A tenant underperforming and not meeting its targets at the end of the six month evaluation period is considered “underemployed”. Unless the situation is remedied within the grace period of three months, funding may be withheld and the tenant may also lose tenancy at the centre.

The projects housed in the centre are incorporated as a commercial company as soon as possible and an outside manager is often recruited to help the entrepreneur develop business skills. The following ownership structure of tenant/company is proposed as follows:
• 50% – inventor
• 20% – investor (in return for 15% of the budget)
• 20% – incubator (representing government)
• 10% – key employees (e.g. company management)

Tenant selection and graduation are critical to a successful incubator. The screening process of the Ghana Multimedia Incubator Centre is defined to meet the centre’s mission and ensures that firms selected can benefit from its value-added services.

The Ghana Multimedia Centre will consider applicants seeking tenancy of the Incubator under five main categories:

These are:

  • Business Process Outsourcing Training Centre (BPO)
  • Sponsored Tenants
  • Non-Sponsored Tenants
  • Subsidized Small-Scale Call Centre
  • Business Process Outsourcing Secretariat
  • Open Source Solutions

BPO Training Centre
The Business Process Outsourcing Training Program includes all organizations that have been licensed to use incubator facilities for the outsourcing of technology. These organizations will particularly focus on training, and certification in all aspect of outsourcing. Training will be offered in three main areas; Medical Transcription, Data Entry and Call Centre Operations.

1. The Medical Transcription program will seek to equip students with skills in producing typed documentation of verbal transcriptions made by medical doctors.

1. The Data Entry program will focus on Training students in the Production and processing of data of all kinds;
• Hand Written
• Dictated
• Scanned

2. The Call Centre program will aim at inculcating in students, and improving the provision of basic customer services on telephone.

Sponsored Tenants
Sponsored tenants of the Incubator are comprised of organizations which are located at the Incubator and receive funding and other forms of support from the Incubator under the auspices of the Ghana government and UNDP.

Non-Sponsored Tenants
Non Sponsored tenants of the Incubator are licensed to use Incubator facilities such as office space, computers and other utilities but do not receive direct funding from the Ghanaian government or the UNDP.

Subsidized Small-Scale Call Centre
Office space at subsidized rent will be given to an entrepreneur seeking to establish a small-scale call centre. This centre will outsource its services to businesses for profit. It will also allow BPO trainees of the GMIC to see a real-world implementation of their training.

Open Source Solutions
The Open Source Solutions team will consist of a group of national service person responsible for the development of open source front end applications on the Linux platform for use at the various Communication Information Centres across the country. The CIC project is an undertaking by the ministry of communications to spread information technology to the rural areas, the goal of the Open Source Solutions team will be to develop and deploy user friendly, customizable Linux platforms for the CIC project. The team will also undertake various research and development projects for the GMIC. A budget of $10,000 U.S will be allocated to the Open Source Solutions team.

Each applicant seeking to be a tenant of the Incubator Centre must also meet the following criteria:

  • They should fall within a broad definition of a for-profit venture producing products or services that can be commercialised within the time permitted for incubation.
  • The applicant should be early-stage – generally within the first two years of business operations – not yet profitable and still growing. Exceptions may be made for small firms that are changing focus, in a “turn-around” mode, substantially restructuring or launching a new business project.
  • Applicants desiring access to an affiliated institution such as a university, research laboratory or other strategic partner should meet the basic requirements of the partner if a key component of the venture’s success involves utilizing partner resources. Qualifications may include limitations on business size and location, citizenship status of owners, intellectual property rights and security clearance to restricted areas, for example.
  • Applicants must show ability to pay rents and fees charged by the centre while developing positive cash flow.
  • Applicants should present a management team that is capable of handling the technical aspects of the business or that understands how to obtain needed technical assistance.
  • Applicants should identify products, technology or services that can benefit from the added value provided by the centre and its resource network. At the same time, centre management must feel confident that it has the capacity to help the business succeed.
  • Applicants should provide economic benefits in the form of job creation or new business opportunities for community vendors or contact agencies. Alternatively, the business must be developing a product or service that will further the economic objectives of the region.
  • The applicant should not be in direct competition with another incubator start-up. If such a conflict appears likely, the applicant might be asked to meet with the conflicting tenant or a review panel composed of board members to discuss potential conflicts of interest. Views of the existing tenant and centre management should be the primary factors in determining the new applicant’s admission. An applicant might be admitted if specific conditions can be established to mitigate conflicts and protect intellectual property.

Tenant Graduation
Ghana Multimedia Incubator Centre has established graduation policies that include specific criteria relative to the centre’s mission and the centre’s ability to provide continued value to the tenant. These policies are included in all leases and materials supplied to serious applicants, and management must ensure applicants understand and accept them. Some criteria are outlined below.

Time Limits – An incubation period of three years maximum. Tenants will be reviewed semi-annually. This should be customized by type of business and reflect the period in which the tenant should realistically progress to accelerated growth or be supported by private sector providers.

Resource Commitments – The centre has established limits on the resources it commits to any one tenant. This may be designated in terms of hours of assistance or rentable square feet occupied as well as equipment allocated to any particular tenant. Again this varies from tenant to tenant depending on business type.

Value – The centre would make a self-assessment of its ability to provide continuing value to the tenant. Tenants who have progressed beyond the incubator’s capacity to provide sufficient value should graduate and begin utilizing private sector providers.

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