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  • African Incubator Network (AIN)

    23 December 2009
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  • Table of contents:

    1. Letter from Jayesh Ravjee
    2. Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to you and yours.
    3. YouNoodle - new venture analytic tools
    4. AIN Portal for news, knowledge sharing and topical discussions
    5. AIN on LinkedIn

  • 1. Letter from Jayesh Ravjee

    Dear Colleagues

    As we lead into the new year of 2010, its thought provoking to look back on the tough year we experienced for both Africa and the rest of the world as we stemmed the tide of the economic recession.

    These difficult times once again highlighted the important role SMEs and development agencies have to play in building a sustainable economy, based on the successful implementation of Incubators and support institutions.

    The Infodev AIN contract was only addressed with all the stakeholders during August 2009. Despite these and other challenges, we have remained committed to the African Incubator Network (AIN). Against this backdrop, I am proud to say, that we have achieved a number of milestones this year which provide for the solid platform for the activities next year.

    We also remained focused on achieving our core strategic objectives of enhancing the African Incubation Network. To this end, we need to focus heavily on improving the capacity of our Network to deliver superior service. The African Incubator Network Portal is being upgraded to enable interactive forums and chat rooms. We started for the first time on
    LinkedIn , with over 110 AIN LinkedIn members profiled and approximately 360 members on
    YouNoodle.
    We were equally pleased with the a number of African delegates that participated at the Global Forum held in Brazil during October 2009, as we can now put faces to the voices and emails that were engaging on. The landing page for the AIN portal has a link to the Africa e-Learning Centre that offers a comprehensive collection of online courses. We would like our members to use the AIN portal to facilitate, collaborate and share the knowledge and good practices that will ultimately benefit the Continent.

    Other future 2010 highlights will include the next International Incubation Conference to be held in the beautiful city of Durban in Kwa-Zulu-Natal Province of South Africa. The conference is expected to be over 3 days during March 2010 (the exact dates will be communicated early next year). This Conference will be a joint initiative between the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), the Southern African Business and Technology Incubation Association (SABTIA) and InfoDev. The aim of which will be to raise awareness and consolidate and the lessons learnt and to improve all Incubator Managers and stakeholders’ access to an array of knowledge resources in the incubation fraternity. SEDA and SABTIA also have the desire to ensure that the next African Incubation Conference is held outside of South Africa and have committed to assist the host of such an event. Planning must start immediately after March 2010 so as to keep the momentum going.

    In addition, we would like our members to contribute to a publication that will show case successes and statistics of Incubation in Africa, so that it may be used as a tool to get stakeholder buy-in, into Incubation. This will be imperative as Governments and Agencies will analyse the successes and cost benefit of Incubation before investing financial resources. We will require members support to find success stories, reports etc, to produce a valuable resource.

    We need to engage on a more frequent and proactive basis, and a longer term communications action plan needs to be drafted, in an effort to work more effectively with our individual stakeholders, build greater awareness of AIN, and improve our image which will ultimately see the AIN effectively positioned globally.

    I am sure you would agree that we still have a lot of work to do! I therefore take this opportunity to thank each and every member for their hard work and dedication, this year and in advance for the next. I also would like to acknowledge David Cromar, for assisting us to accomplish these important activities and keeping me on my toes!

    In conclusion, thank you for staying course during these difficult times. We remain committed to giving the Network the best possible support and return for the Continent. Let me wish you all a safe holiday season and look forward to working with you all in 2010.

    Yours in support,

    Jayesh J Ravjee
    AIN Secretariat

    jravjee@seda.org.za
    www.ainportal.org.


    "AIN is founded on the belief that we all have something to contribute and that we need to share our learning, support each other and build the African continent through our own endeavours."

  • 2. Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to you and yours.

    Geseënde Kersfees en 'n gelukkige nuwe jaar,
    Joyeux Noël et bonne année,
    Feliz Natal e próspero ano novo,
    ¡Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo!,
    Sinifesela uKhisimusi oMuhle noNyaka oMusha oNempumelelo.

  • 3. YouNoodle - new venture analytic tools

    You should all have received an invite this month to join the AIN group we have created on YouNoodle. Our thanks to Danielle for her help and assistance in getting us started here so quickly.

    We believe this offers you all additional networking and business startup tools. In particular, the opportunity for your incubatees and entrepreneurs to take advantage of the YouNoodle Startup Predictor analytics.

    It is in Beta mode but has been extensively tested and used globally. YouNoodle welcome your insight and encourage you to promote its application in Sub Sharan Africa. Your feedback on this suite will be interesting.

    We look forward to being able to present your findings and experiences at the AIN Conference being provisionally planned for April 2010 in Durban.

  • 4. AIN Portal for news, knowledge sharing and topical discussions

    You should all have user ID's and access passwords for our knowledge server (at AINportal.org). If you wish to register please do so at the home page and you will get access usually within 24 hours.

    During the next 2 months we will be upgrading the server and portal software. We will also be adding new content we have sourced to share with you and your incubator teams.

    Please contact David Cromar our AIN webmaster if you have any problems, issues or content you wish to share online.

  • 5. AIN on LinkedIn

    In September we invited existing and new AIN members to join (LinkedIN) and participate in our AIN group community space there. (AIN on LinkedIN)

    This addresses the expressed need for incubation managers to be able to show their accreditation and expertise. It also allows the building of personal networks of sponsors, supporters and knowledge providers.

    Thus far over 160 of you have created a Linkedin profile and joined the AIN LinkedIn group.