UNDP Incubation of innovators and entrepreneurs

Introduction

After the well-celebrated Innovation Week that brought together 53 innovators across the country through a well coordinated partnership between UNDP and the Burundian government through the ministries of ICT, Youth and Commerce, the finalists of the innovation week also benefited from a three-month incubation program at BujaHub.

It is clear that entrepreneurship is a journey and the more innovative the solution, the more it becomes tricky and thus creates the need for a support system that can enable non-innovators only to create successful businesses, but also to build business personalities that can be able to adapt to the dynamic evolutions of the company and to innovate in permanence.

The BujaHub thanks to a grant obtained in as part of its partnership with the UNDP

developed an incubation program that has worked successfully for three months with the 52 innovators divided into four categories main namely;

  • 10 Innovation Week Finalists
  • 10 entrepreneurs of the week innovation
  • 30 shortlisted innovators from the innovation week
  • 3 Ruyigi Innovation Competition Finalists

Program objectives

The incubation program designed and led by the BujaHub through the entrepreneurship approach of corporate design aimed to achieve the goals following;

  • Supporting innovators in the creation validated business models
  • Provide support in market analysis, customer discovery and feasibility study
  • Support the creation of prototypes of products and services
  • 3 Ruyigi Innovation Competition Finalists
  • Support the creation of brand identities and product designs
  • Support in the design of sales and marketing strategies
  • Foster networking and collaboration between innovators
  • Support in the creation of strategies go to market

Program Success Indicators

Following the 3 month incubation program managed by the BujaHub with the support of the UNDP, following the monitoring and evaluation carried out by the BujaHub team in collaboration with the UNDP staff on the successful evolution of each company and founders, indicators impressive were collected by various means, including interviews, reports, feedback forms and testimonials. These data were collected, analyzed and interpreted as below.

  • 37 companies succeeded in creating their validated business models
  • All 52 companies were able to carry out their visibility studies and improve their understanding of their o er and consumer needs
  • 40 companies were fully renamed and 9 were redesigned
  • 12 companies were able to create their prototypes
  • 30 companies were able to design their products
  • 48 companies have developed their strategies commercial
  • 38 companies redesigned their strategies pricing and marketing
  • 42 companies attested to being well informed of the existing competition and are Ready for the market.