An investigation of InvoTech business incubation programme and its effect on entrepreneurs

Abstract

Governments all over the world have pinned the hopes of economic recovery on the SMMEs but they face the daunting challenge to survive. It is widely recognized that knowledge-based, entrepreneurial enterprises are the main creators of economic improvement and that such enterprises require professional business development services. The South African government has made attempts to ameliorate the difficulties encountered by SMMEs, through different business incubation models. Incubators create value by combining the entrepreneurial spirit of start-ups with the resources not normally available to new ventures. The purpose of this research was to investigate the efficiency of the InvoTech business incubation programs and their influence on SMMEs. Using a quantitative methodology, data were analysed using the R Software for Statistical Computing version 4.1.2 statistical package. The descriptive, statistical, and generalized least squares regression methods were then employed to analyse and report the outcomes of the study. The findings suggested that business Incubators have a positive effect towards helping SMMEs to survive and blossom. Various factors, like gender and age of the entrepreneur, geographical location, the sector to which the SMME belongs and firm age have an effect on the success of the firm pre- and post-incubation.