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A business incubator is a company that helps new and startup

companies to develop by providing services such as management
training or office space.[1] The National Business Incubation Association
(NBIA) defines business incubators as a catalyst tool for either regional or
national economic development. NBIA categorizes their members
incubators by the following five incubator types: academic institutions; non-
profit development corporations; for-profit property development ventures;
venture capital firms, and combination of the above.[2]
Business incubators differ from research and technology parks in their
dedication to startup and early-stage companies. Research and technology
parks, on the other hand, tend to be large-scale projects that house
everything from corporate, government or university labs to very small
companies. Most research and technology parks do not offer business
assistance services, which are the hallmark of a business incubation
program. However, many research and technology parks house incubation
programs.[3]
Incubators also differ from the U.S. Small Business Administration's Small
Business Development Centers (and similar business support programs) in
that they serve only selected clients. SBDCs are required by law to offer
general business assistance to any company that contacts them for help. In
addition, SBDCs work with any small business at any stage of
development, not only startup companies. Many business incubation
programs partner with their local SBDC to create a "one-stop shop" for
entrepreneurial support.[citation needed]
Within European Union countries there are different EU and state funded
programs that offer support in form of consulting, mentoring, prototype
creation and other services and co-funding for them. TecHub is one of
examples for IT companies and ideas.[citation needed

The formal concept of business incubation began in the USA in

1959 when Joseph Mancuso opened the Batavia Industrial Center in
a Batavia, New York, warehouse.[4] Incubation expanded in the U.S.
in the 1980s and spread to the UK and Europe through various
related forms (e.g. innovation centres, ppinires dentreprises,
technopoles/science parks).
The U.S.-based International Business Innovation Association estimates
that there are about 7,000 incubators worldwide. A study funded by the
European Commission in 2002 identified around 900 incubation
environments in Western Europe.[5] As of October 2006, there were more
than 1,400 incubators in North America, up from only 12 in 1980. Her
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Majesty's Treasury identified around 25 incubation environments in the UK

in 1997; by 2005, UKBI identified around 270 incubation environments
across the country. In 2005 alone, North American incubation programs
assisted more than 27,000 companies that provided employment for more
than 100,000 workers and generated annual revenues of $17 billion.[6]
Incubation activity has not been limited to developed countries; incubation
environments are now being implemented in developing countries and
raising interest for financial support from organisations such as UNIDO and
the World Bank.

ROLE OF BUSINESS INCUBATORS

The Role of Business Incubators :- 1. Business incubators aim to assist new entrepreneurs with
business start-up. The business incubator helps to fill a void which is found in many areas. 1 Not
everyone is able to spend the time or money necessary to attend college and obtain a business
administration degree. Further, not everyone has access to resources that can fund a new business
effort until it becomes profitable. 2. Incubator programs help to fill the gap by providing
rudimentary training to entrepreneurs, a space to launch the business, and in some cases contacts
between the new business owner with others who are in a position to invest in the future of the
company [2]. 3. The incubator cannot replace business initiative, personal effort and
resourcefulness. There is a term used called incubator syndrome in which the entrepreneur allows
their initiative and judgement to be replaced by those of the consultants in the centre. 3 While the
consultants may give superb advice, it is the entrepreneurs responsibility to make the business
succeed. 4. Incubators vary in the way they deliver their services, in their organizational structure,
and in the types of clients they serve. 4 5. Classical incubators are business incubators oriented
towards giving support in starting the business through advice, lease of space, and the offer of the
administrative infrastructure and other services.5 They may also have good connections to
sources of funding, but they are seldom themselves business investors. 6. Technological
incubators support technologically oriented firms mostly as start-up and spin-off firms. They
cooperate close with universities, research institutions and science and technological parks . 6
Many of incubation programs serve affiliate or virtual clients. These companies do not Acta
Polytechnica Hungarica Vol. 9, No. 3, 2012 87 reside in the incubator facility. Affiliate clients may
be home-based businesses or early-stage companies that have their own premises but can benefit
from incubator services. Virtual clients may be too remote from an incubation facility to participate
on site, and so receive counselling and other assistance electronically. This virtual model suits those
entrepreneurs who need the advice offered by an incubator but who still want to maintain their own
offices, warehouses, etc. [1]. Incubators differ from science and technology parks in their dedication
to start-up and early-stage companies. Science and technology parks, on the other hand, tend to be
THE ENTREPRENEUR ASSOCIATION

large-scale projects that house everything from corporate, government or university labs to very
small companies (both of them science as well as technology parks tend to be for established
companies paying commercial rates). Most science and technology parks do not offer business
assistance services, which is the core of a business incubation program. However, many science and
technology parks house incubation programs [3]. Most common incubator services are: help with
business basics, networking activities, marketing assistance, help with accounting and financial
management, access to bank loans, loan funds and guarantee programs, access to angel investors or
venture capital, help with presentation skills, links to higher education resources, links to strategic
partners, help with comprehensive business training programs, advisory boards and mentors and
technology commercialization assistance. Although most incubators offer their clients office space
and shared administrative services, the heart of a true business incubation program are the services
it provides to start-up companies. Unlike many business assistance programs, business incubators do
not serve any and all companies. 7. Entrepreneurs who wish to enter a business incubation
program must apply for admission. Each community sets criteria that applicants must meet in order
to participate in the business incubator. 7 8.Acceptance criteria vary from program to program,
but in general only those with feasible business ideas and a workable business plan are admitted .[8]
9.The amount of time a company spends in an incubation program can vary widely depending on a
number of factors, including the type of business and the entrepreneurs level of business
expertise.[9] Firms with long research and development cycles require more time in an incubation
program than manufacturing or service companies that can immediately produce and bring to
market a product or service. Most businesses that use an incubator will stay there for up to a year,
but by then should have grown sufficiently to move into their own facilities. Many incubation
programs set graduation requirements by development benchmarks, such as company revenue or
staffing levels, rather than time in the program. 10. Incubators do charge for the facilities and
resources that they supply, but since nearly all are supported in some manner by government or
regional grants, the charges are subsidised and lower than in the market place. 10

ROLE OF SELF HELP GROUPS

A Self-Help Group (SHG) is a village-based financial intermediary
usually composed of 10-20 local women. Most self-help groups are
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located in India, though SHGs can also be found in other countries,

especially in South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Members make small regular savings contributions over a few

months until there is enough capital in the group to begin lending.
Funds may then be lent back to the members or to others in the
village for any purpose. In India, many SHGs are linked to banks
for the delivery of micro-credit. Micro-credit in common parlance
refers to small loans that help the poor women to meet their
immediate credit needs.

A major rethinking on the existing strategies of rural development

in general and women empowerment, in particular, led to the
realisation that a new approach is needed to help the women to
help themselves. Such an approach, particularly known as
promotion of Self-Help Group (SHG) formation, was stated with the
objective of meeting the micro-credit needs of the poor women.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

A Self-Help Group may be registered or unregistered. It typically

comprises a group of micro-entrepreneurs having homogenous
social and economic backgrounds, all voluntarily coming together to
save regular small sums of money, mutually agreeing to contribute
to a common fund and to meet their emergency needs on the basis
of mutual help. They pool their resources to become financially
stable, taking loans from the money collected by that group and by
making everybody in that group self- employed.

The group members use collective wisdom and peer pressure to

ensure proper end-use of credit and timely repayment. This system
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eliminates the need for collateral and is closely related to that of

solidarity lending, widely used by micro-finance institutions. To
make the bookkeeping simple enough to be handled by the
members, flat interest rates are used for most loan calculations.

With the central and state Governments, along with the National
Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), extending
the required support for women SHGs as a strategy for women
empowerment, the SHGs has taken firm roots in India. The
movement is eventually expected to reduce gender inequalities in
the country.

Important policy initiatives initiated in this regard include:

promotion of groups under the Development of Women and
Children in Rural Areas (DWACRA) Programme and adoption of
the model of South Asia Poverty Alleviation Programme (SAPAP).
The SAPAP is assisted by United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) as a response to the Dhaka declaration of the SAARC
summit on Eradication of Poverty and Reduction of Gender
Inequalities.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

The major elements of the SHG approach to micro-credit

include the following:
i. Provide a cost effective approach to formal institutions for
expanding and reaching out to poor;

ii. Offer an effective alternative to pursue the objective of growth by

facilitating the empowerment of rural poor women;
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iii. Make micro-finance available to cater to the consumption and

production needs of poor women;

iv. Provide a platform for poor women to participate in mainstream

economic activity; and

v. Help in capacity building by providing greater awareness on

various development and welfare programmes relating to women
and child health in general and education of children is particular.

The SHGs, by providing access to financial services and informing

the women members about the various welfare programmes
especially targeted to women and children, truly empower women
by making them partners in bringing about the needed social and
economic transformation. The efforts of SHGs are thus, to a very
great extent, contributing to address the gender issues of economic
development in India.

Entrepreneurs Association
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The Entrepreneurs Association at UC Santa Barbara is a

business, entrepreneurship, and technology club. The club's
goal is to act as a professional association for entrepreneurial
undergraduate and graduate students that have interest in
either launching or joining a new business venture. The
mission of Entrepreneurs Association is to empower students
with the business acumen, skills, and experience that will
ensure their success as future business leaders and
contributors to society. We are the go-to place for any student
who has a business idea, and wants to take the next steps.

At our Weekly Meetings, we focus on student to student

connection. We share ideas, discuss entrepreneurship topics,
and build strong teams. EA is a great place to find a group for
the New Venture Competition.

Topics will include perfecting elevator pitches, giving

effective presentations, using technology as a lean startup,
venture capital 101, new technology opportunities, disruption
opportunities in society, learning patent laws, and more!