The Startup Incubator Program is our flagship program designed to support building technology startups based in Cameroon.
This program is for techies or anyone working on a technology driven business idea or startup.
Admission into this program gives you access to our skills/business development coaching and startup support packages such as funding, business network, etc.
We incubate startups and support teams working on bright ICT business ideas across the board – irrespective of their development phase i.e. ideation through scaling.
To be eligible to enter into our startup incubation program, founder(s) or teams must meet the following criteria:
Startups admitted into our incubation program can be at one of 4 levels (click/tap to expand):
As the name implies, this is the entry level for teams who have no prior experience building startups using the lean startup approach. Teams admitted to this level are typically at ideation or concepting phase.
Teams at this level are expected to undergo coaching for 3 months before they are promoted to the Incubation or Startup Level.
Our coaching objectives at this level is to help teams:
Not all teams admitted into this level make it to the Incubation Level. Teams that are dropped will cease to benefit from our startup incubation program but the members may remain part of the ActivSpaces Community. The teams may re-apply to join our startup incubation program with a new idea or same old idea if they show proof of having overcome the reason(s) they were dropped.
This is the entry level for teams that are able to demonstrate skill and experience with the lean startup approach or have proven prior experience building successful tech startups. Teams admitted at this level are typically at the commitment or validation phase with a well formulated viable business model and usually working on their Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
Teams at this level may spend up to a maximum of 3 renewable terms (of one year each) before they are either dropped or demoted to Pre-Incubation or promoted to the Accelerator Level.
Our coaching objectives at this level is to help teams:
Not all teams admitted into this level make it to the Accelerator Level. Teams may be demoted or dropped from the program during terms for one or more reasons; more information about this is provided in our incubation agreement. Teams that are dropped will cease to benefit from our startup incubation program but the members may remain part of the ActivSpaces Community. The teams may re-apply to join our startup incubation program with a new idea or same old idea if they show proof of having overcome the reason(s) they were dropped.
We generally do not admit startups directly into this level except for cases when we work with partners who may select startups to join at this level. Teams who attain this level are typically at the scaling or establishing phase of startup development with proven user/market traction.
Teams at this level may spend up to a maximum of 1 term (or one year) after which they may graduate from our startup incubation program and join our alumni. It is possible in certain circumstances that teams at this level may be demoted to Incubation.
Our coaching objectives at this level is to help teams:
Not all teams promoted to this level may graduate and join our alumni. Teams may be demoted or dropped from the program during their term for one or more reasons; more information about this is provided in our incubation agreement. Teams that are dropped will cease to benefit from our startup incubation program but the members may remain part of the ActivSpaces Community. The teams may re-apply to join our startup incubation program with a new idea or same old idea if they show proof of having overcome the reason(s) they were dropped.
As the name implies, teams at this level are established businesses that have graduated from our startup incubation program. Of course no team can be admitted into this level. Teams at this level have attained maturity thus are not covered by our incubation program.
ActivSpaces may own shares with these companies thus we only keep records and lend support as a shareholder in the business – the rest is business as usual.
Each member of a startup is inherently an ActivSpaces Community Member. As with regular community membership, each startup member is expected to pay their annual membership contribution and adhere to our guiding principles and the rules set forth in our Article of Association.
Additionally, startup teams must agree and adhere to the terms set forth in the incubation agreement which startups must sign prior to admission into our incubation program.
We know that building a startup is extreme hard work that is why we are here to accompany you as partner and coach on this journey. Anyone who has ever turn a business idea into a business know how valuable this can be.
To make it even easier, we share the risks of building the startup in exchange for a small percentage equity instead of charging founders upfront for our incubation services.
Our incubation services to each startup is valued at 2,500,000XAF ($5,000) per year (or per term) and for startups that qualify (with a viable business model with user/market traction), we may invest additional 5,000,000XAF ($10,000) cash over the course of the incubation period.
In addition to the aforementioned features, our startups get the combine features and benefits of a community member and that of a tech group from our community program.
These include:
The following are some of benefits of using a business incubator such as that offered by our incubator program.
For more information about our programs or how you can get involved, please visit our Programs or Get Involved page.
