Business incubators in Africa

A review of the literature

Dados Bibliográficos

ID16909809
AutoresAbiodun Egbetokun (0000-0002-2069-7648, National Center for Technology Management, autor correspondente)
Ano2025
Volume15
Fascículo2
Páginas233-260
Data de publicação2025-05-04
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInnovation and Development (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2157-9318 • E-ISSN: 2157-930X
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/2157930x.2023.2295090
OpenAlexW4389948283
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas53

This paper reviews research on business incubators in Africa, as a policy tool for supporting entrepreneurial businesses. Combining bibliometric and narrative approaches, it identifies five themes in the literature: incubator types and support; incubator performance and innovation; incubator impact on businesses and economy; incubator role in start-ups; and incubator as enabler of learning. It also highlights gaps for future research, including the lack of studies on climate change and industrialization; the limited evidence on how to improve incubator support; the absence of studies on adaptive, responsive and inclusive incubators; and the scarcity of rigorous impact evaluations. The paper concludes that incubators are useful for enterprise development in Africa but need collective research and policy efforts to strengthen their contribution

Business · Economics · Enabling · Incubator · Industrialisation · Knowledge management · Political science · Scarcity · Computer Science · Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences · Family Business Performance and Succession · Private Equity and Venture Capital

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