This article sets out a variety of tools to market an incubator within its catchment community. The tools range from promotion of incubator facilities and services to building relationships with research centres and other sources of new businesses.
Objectives
A set of systematic procedures to identify and attract potential customers to the incubator, aimed at achieving a quantitative and qualitative increase in demand. Central to this is:
- Promote Incubator Facilities: release information about the incubator such as: advantages, type of entry, strenght of connections to graduated companies and partners, networks, outcomes etc.
- Dissemination: advertising material prepared for incubated companies (folders, posters, billboards, etc.) must mention that the company was supported by a specific incubator; successful incubator cases are mentioned in the press, articles on entrepreneurship and the formation of new companies are featured in the local press; and incubator advertising material is placed in strategic locations. For example: trade and industrial associations, universities and associated institutions.
- Courses, lectures, and seminars on entrepreneurship; these are offered by the incubator covering topics like setting up a new company and news about entrepreneurship opportunities.
- Incubator tours: schedule visits by “gatekeepers” – people in contact with potential tenants such as university staff, accountants or lawyers, for example – to learn more about what the incubator can provide.
- Successful cases: show how an incubator can assist in creating/developing new business opportunities. Present cases fully identified with a real local context. All events designed to attract new projects/companies are usually included in the incubator company marketing strategy.
- Showcase spin-offs: incubator can promote active prospecting that may include:
- Spin-off incentives: incubator fosters existing companies (especially large) to support the emergence of new ones. These new companies usually develop new products and/or services that enhance the competitive capacity of the existing company (commonly called “mother or parent-company”).
- Fostering Spinouts: in view of their research activities, university research groups or institutes have potential to form new companies. These are called Spinout companies.
Key Issues
Business Plans Contest
A business plan contest can be launched by a community as a way of raising awareness about entrepreneurship. This also helps to encourage the establishment of new companies and increase incubator demand. Entrepreneurship must be developed in the region where the incubator is located, promoting community interest in starting new enterprises. Different tools are offered for this purpose, appropriate to the development of good quality proposals.
A suggested contest plan follows:
- Identification of Sponsors: the success of the contest depends on sponsors and appropriate prizes. The organizing committee’s main task is to find well-known, reliable sponsors from the community.
- Drafting the Regulations: all pre-requisites and procedures related to the conditions for participation in the contest must be clearly expressed. The regulations must contain, as a minimum. the following information:
- Participation requirements
- Minimum format and content to be presented
- Assessment criteria
- Applicable terms
- Dissemination: a definition of strategies that will be used to publicize the contest. It also includes the preparation and distribution of materials that will be used for this purpose. Holding talks/discussions with the target market creates publicity about the contest. The organizing committee’s involvement in regional talk shows is another excellent mechanism.
- Capacity building and guidance of interested parties: there must be a system by which explanations can be made and questions answered about the contest. Additionally, courses or lectures on how to prepare a Business Plan can be offered.
- Prize Awarding Event: the award ceremony is important, not only to the winners but also to disseminate news about the incubator within the community. Authorities (dean, major, governor, congressmen, senators, etc) should be present as they add prestige to the event and, consequently to the incubator’s image.
- Final Report: at the end it is important for the organizing committee to prepare a report containing all-important information concerning the contest. This information is useful for organization of future contests.
Responsible parties are professionals trained in business plan development and assessment.
Indicators and Goals
- Total number of registered projects
- Number of appearances in the media
- Number of participants in prize-awarding event
Teaching Entrepreneurship
The purpose of teaching entrepreneurship is to increase the number of people that may develop an entrepreneurial profile. The way to achieve this consists in offering courses, lectures or events with different levels of in-depth knowledge, depending on the interest shown by target public.
It is important to use a strategy that guarantees the establishment of multipliers, so that the largest possible number of people may access all the entrepreneurial tools, methodologies and concepts.
Under this framework, teaching entrepreneurship may be offered to three different target publics:
- Community in general: the purpose is to heighten awareness regarding the need to change the profile of professionals in general. The main approach, in this case, falls on the parents so that they foster in their children the interest to start their own enterprises.
- Teachers/Professors of Basic, Intermediary and University Education: the main purpose is to get teachers/professors to incorporate entrepreneurial concepts and methodologies in their respective subjects.
- Professionals Interested in training Professors: they will become multipliers of entrepreneurial concepts, methodologies and tools.
Stages/Critical Issues
1) Development of norms, values, practices, symbols
2) Special courses to train professors in entrepreneurship
3) Entrepreneurial courses/programs for basic, intermediary and university education
4) Definition of syllabus to form young entrepreneurs
5) Foster the publication of theoretical articles and cases of successful entrepreneurship
Tips on Teaching Entrepreneurship:
- This topic must necessarily include data on values and cultural information in general, as entrepreneurship concepts cannot be approached outside the sociological, economic and, above all else, cultural concepts under consideration.
- Studies carried out prove that there is no single formula covering this topic, and that the model used must be designed taking into account local needs.
Responsible Parties must be people involved with a critical approach
Indicators and Goals
- Number of participants in programs/courses/events.
- Percentage of participants that constituted their own enterprises.
- Percentage of professor that incorporated entrepreneurial concepts in their respective subjects.
Results
Creating an entrepreneurial culture, identifying people with entrepreneurial characteristics, increasing demand of candidates interested in using incubators.
Responsible Parties
- Incubator technical staff
- Professionals in business planning and entrepreneurial capacity building areas
Indicators
- Number of people interested in incubator vacancies increased
- Number of people trained/qualified in entrepreneurship increased
Results
- Creation of an entrepreneurial culture in the community
- Increase demand for incubator.