Stanbic Business Incubator is an initiative from Stanbic Bank Ghana as part of its goal to contribute significantly to the social, economic and environmental needs of Ghana’s business network. “The survival of an incubator is more than running programs. It is building a community that creates opportunities,” says Foster Akugri, incubator manager. He joined Stanbic Bank in 2017 and spent a year learning how it could become a hub of opportunity and leverage its central position in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to support individuals, businesses, public corporations and governments. The incubator launched virtually in 2018, and in 2019 it opened a coworking space that is a venue for training programs and community events. 

The initiative provides startups with access to markets and financing through Stanbic Bank and external partners, and offers a range of programs including ones on ideation, skills acquisition and investment readiness. Its Incubator Community Membership Program includes forty-two different advisory services, access to mentors, use of the coworking space and the opportunity to apply to a job-shadowing program to learn about the corporate environment. For Stanbic Business Incubator, the definition of success is a startup that creates a sustainable business, decent jobs and value for its customers. “We need to ensure startups solve for the greater good and are scalable across multiple markets,” says Foster.

Stanbic Business Incubator aims to bring underserved groups into its network by being active on its digital channels and open to direct messages on all platforms. This includes holding Twitter chats on the last Friday of every month (using #SBChat), which generate more than a million impressions each time. The incubator also hosts skills-based webinars, such as ones on product development, via WhatsApp and Zoom. “The discussions around diversity, inclusion and the gender gap are ones we need to pay attention to. We put our focus on women and youth to make sure we are bringing everybody along on the journey,” says Foster.

Have more than one cofounder.
Every startup needs a solid foundation and its leadership is vitally important. We want to see discipline in the founders of the business so they can drive the vision and achieve their objective.

Already have your idea and vision.
It does not need to be fully developed, but there should be a basis from which we can help your idea grow into a business.

Be a woman.
Although our selection is heavily based on competence, we have a strong preference towards women. We plan to introduce virtual satellite incubation programs to make our program more accessible for women, wherever they live. 

sbincubatorgh.org/become-a-member

Main photo by Stanbic Bank Ghana Ltd - VOME Ltd.