Exploring the influence of funding sources on business incubation in the Western Cape
type: CreativeWork
description: The topic of business incubation has been the subject of considerable academic research, and a focal point in entrepreneurship support ecosystems. Business incubators provide entrepreneurs and start-up businesses with a shared space (either physical or virtual). The incubator offers a systematic shared support structure that enhances businesses' chances of succeeding and growing into entities that eventually graduate to a location beyond the ‘safety net' of the incubator. Academic research in the field of incubation has predominantly focused on (i) understanding business incubation models that are most effective within particular operating environments; and (ii) understanding support services that are most useful to incubatees of the incubator. This research instead explores the influence that funding sources have on business incubators, with a focus on understanding how incubators in turn assist their incubatees in accessing finance. Research focusing on funder influence on incubators, and support provided to incubatees to assist with access to finance, is at a nascent stage within the South African business incubation landscape. The research was undertaken utilising a multiple case study approach, with individual business incubators constituting a case. Incubators were classified into three case typologies, depending on their predominant funding source: mixed; private; or public funded. From the population of business incubators in South Africa, a sample of 8 incubators within the Western Cape Province were selected. Semi-structured interviews with participants were undertaken over a three month period and involved undertaking interviews with 8 incubator managers, and 10 current or former incubatees. Qualitative data from participant interviews were analysed using a combination of NVivo12 and MS Excel, in order to determine responses relevant to the research question and subquestions. The information collected was categorised into themes of relevance using initial…
abstract: The topic of business incubation has been the subject of considerable academic research, and a focal point in entrepreneurship support ecosystems. Business incubators provide entrepreneurs and start-up businesses with a shared space (either physical or virtual). The incubator offers a systematic shared support structure that enhances businesses' chances of succeeding and growing into entities that eventually graduate to a location beyond the ‘safety net' of the incubator. Academic research in the field of incubation has predominantly focused on (i) understanding business incubation models that are most effective within particular operating environments; and (ii) understanding support services that are most useful to incubatees of the incubator. This research instead explores the influence that funding sources have on business incubators, with a focus on understanding how incubators in turn assist their incubatees in accessing finance. Research focusing on funder influence on incubators, and support provided to incubatees to assist with access to finance, is at a nascent stage within the South African business incubation landscape. The research was undertaken utilising a multiple case study approach, with individual business incubators constituting a case. Incubators were classified into three case typologies, depending on their predominant funding source: mixed; private; or public funded. From the population of business incubators in South Africa, a sample of 8 incubators within the Western Cape Province were selected. Semi-structured interviews with participants were undertaken over a three month period and involved undertaking interviews with 8 incubator managers, and 10 current or former incubatees. Qualitative data from participant interviews were analysed using a combination of NVivo12 and MS Excel, in order to determine responses relevant to the research question and subquestions. The information collected was categorised into themes of relevance using initial…
author: Milne, James
keywords: business incubation, Western Cape, South Africa
date published: 2020
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:14Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Graduate School of Business (GSB)

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32808