“Reimagining the Future of ESOs in East Africa (PDF),” identifies the interconnected challenges facing entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs), including incubators and accelerators. This WDI report takes a solutions-oriented approach for better serving entrepreneurs, maximizing the impact of limited donor resources, and strengthening the pipeline of investable companies.
Several common challenges faced by ESOs include:
- Monetization barriers leading to grant overreliance and program limitations
- Limited experimentation, learning, and impact measurement by ESOs further compounded by legacy definitions of success
- Inability to attract and retain skilled and experienced talent due to limited resources
- Limited and ineffective mentorship
- Limited and ineffective investment readiness training
- Limited investor introductions and networking opportunities.
The report outlines a range of solutions needed at the organization and systems level across four priority areas:
- Improving ESO financial sustainability: Funding models to reduce ESOs’ overreliance on grants, including earned income, cost reduction, and alternative financing mechanisms.
- Refining ESO program design: Development of technical programs tailored to sector or company stage, as well as those that build markets and expand program features.
- Strengthening ESO leadership, governance, and impact measurement. Strengthening ESOs’ internal capacities—including impact management, accountability, talent recruitment and retention.
- Strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem: Fostering solutions that encourage dialogue, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and resource pooling among ESOs, donors, and investors.
