Tech Incubators And Accelerators

The dearth of innovation in the public sector has contributed to the growth of recent institutional innovations.

- Johan Fourie

If there’s one lesson we’ve learned from economic history, it’s that innovation is key to human flourishing. One would think, therefore, that innovation is at the forefront of government policy. But sadly, that is often not the case. In fact, as Deidre McCloskey and Alberto Mingardi argue in their book, The Myth of the Entrepreneurial State, a response to Maria Mazzucato’s popular The Entrepreneurial State, the state is often a barrier rather than a boost to innovation.

It is this lack of innovation that has contributed to the rapid growth of a relatively recent institutional innovation: the tech incubator and accelerator. Josh Romisher is CEO of the Nedbank Stellenbosch University Launchlab, an incubator for new start-ups. Having lived and worked in the US, Europe, Africa and Australia, he has seen many of these ecosystems in action. I ask him why African incubator programmes have not delivered on their immense promise, yet.

“Many incubators in Africa are funded by development finance or by governments or universities. Most of them are run as non-profits, operating on a substantial grant. They then spend that grant funding over time, because no one pays them for services. Five years later they realise they haven’t built a sustainable business, and they are out of money.”