An assessment of incubatee selection criteria and its role on National Construction Incubator performance.

Abstract

Governments worldwide have pinned the hopes of economic recovery on the Small Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) that face the daunting challenge of survival. It is widely recognized that business incubators have been promoted as a solution for lowering the failure rate of these SMMEs. As a result, the number of business incubators has increased globally, including in South Africa to assist with professional business development services for SMMEs. Consequently, significant time has been devoted to researching business incubators and their role in SMME success. However, the effectiveness of these incubators is still in question, thus a study of an assessment of the selection criteria and its impact on the National Construction Incubator's performance. This study is premised up two fundamental objectives and these include to explore the association between selection criteria and the business incubator performance and to explore the role of the incubatee selection process on the performance of the incubator. To address these research objectives, a qualitative approach was followed, where interviews were conducted with a sample of incubatees to assess the incubatee selection criteria and its effect on National Construction Incubator performance. The selection process involved advertising opportunities on digital platforms and newspapers, interested entrepreneurs applied, and shortlisted candidates were called for interviews. The study used thematic analysis of interviews with fifteen incubates and three support managers who sat in the selection process of the incubatees. The findings provide significant insights into how the selection of incubatees, and the criteria used during this process can influence various performance outcomes of the incubator, such as the success rate of incubated businesses, resource optimization, and the incubator’s overall sustainability. Considering these findings, the study recommended modern business incubators must maintain a clearly understood selection process and criteria for prospective incubatees to ensure that the right candidates are reached and eventually selected. The calibre of management of the incubator is also critical in the performance of the incubatees and the incubator as such it is important that this be central in the process.