Question

Response

General questions

How do we demonstrate the commitment to UniBRAIN’s goals, objectives and outputs?

The Consortium’s Mission Statement should capture UniBRAIN’s Development Objective, Immediate Objective and the 3 UniBRAIN outputs as indicated in the UniBRAIN Implementation Phase Programme Document

What is the minimum UniBRAIN AIIC consortium membership?

The core of the Incubator consortium membership must include at least one private sector firm, one agricultural research institution and one university.

Can the consortia change their names and logos to ones that may be more saleable?

Incubators are at liberty to make changes to their names, logos, etc to create simple readily recognizable and easily memorized brand names.

If managers have the greatest impact on the success of the firm, how can the UniBRAIN Consortia, which have little experience in agribusiness incubation and no track record,  create  confidence amongst partners and financiers?

Incubators are encouraged to work with ABI-ICRISAT and other UniBRAIN Partners to get the best advice on the kind of managers and other senior staff to recruit and the process for recruiting them. ABI-ICRISAT will be assisting with preparation of TORs, procedure manuals and preparation of interview guidelines.

They are also encouraged to negotiate with AMSCO for support in recruiting short-term managers with exactly the qualifications and experience they are looking for and the capacity to pass on those skills to three or more of the Incubator’s permanent management staff.

Who should be on the Board of the Incubator?

The Board should be comprised of committed individuals chosen on personal merit not ex officio and in addition to representatives of the consortium members should include independent finance and business experts.

How should they develop their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)?

The Incubators should proceed with preparing a draft but should not finalise it until after receipt of a generic SOP being developed by ABI-ICRISAT and are advised to let ABI-ICRISAT review theirs before finalization.

Should the business plan include the benefits to society?

Yes!  All recipients of UniBRAIN/Danida funds are committed to the principles of creating jobs and wealth especially for the youth, proactively promoting gender equity, and conserving natural resources and adapting to climate change.

After working so hard putting together winning proposals  and setting up the incubator business, what will be the benefit for people now involved, especially since incubators will be not-for-profit?

The prime motivation should be the unique chance to help young aspiring entrepreneurs get the training they need and to get into business.

However, the incubators should attract business to the consortia members, with assured charges and benefit sharing, from firms and startups that require the services that they can offer. This should increase as the incubator’s brand gets better known and the prospective customers become aware of the advantages of the transparent contracts, IP protection, commercial confidentiality and quality assurance provided by the incubator as a user-friendly gateway to the services offered by the consortia members.

Business models and plans

What is meant by the consortia being private not-for-profit firms?

The Incubators will have to make trading surpluses to be commercially viable but they will not be distributing dividends but rather their ultimate objectives are to create as many jobs in new start ups as possible. 

How should the Incubator accommodate identified potential incubates and clients?

Identified potential incubates and clients are the greatest asset of any incubator. However, while preparing to cater for them the incubator must be aware that they are just the first of many and they will be expected to leave the incubator as soon as possible. Hence it is essential to have sound client selection processes and criteria that are not too influenced by the particular characteristics of the first candidates, and to have sound incubatee exit strategy/ criteria

How soon must the Consortia be financially self sufficient?

Danida is committed to provide funds for UniBRAIN for only four years. The incubators must therefore aim to be financially self   sustainable within that time frame.

Can the Consortia invest UniBRAIN funds in the Consortia members?

No. UniBRAIN funds cannot be invested in institutions that are not private commercial businesses. 

However, properly incorporated private firms that are set up to commercialise the products of members of the Consortia can apply for support in the same way as any other candidate start-ups, SMEs and start ups.

What is the most common source of failures of startups like the UniBRAIN AIIC?

Failure to properly develop their customer basis is a feature of almost all start-ups that go bust. Product developers have so much faith and passion for their products they tend to be blind and deaf to what the market actually wants.

 It is recommended that the incubators form two separate teams; one to work on product development and the other on market assessment and to move forward only once the two teams are in agreement that there is a market for the product.

What is the best means of facilitating participatory group involvement in developing business models?

Incubators are encouraged to purchase an iPAD 2 with a business model software and a projector to enable them work in groups with ease

What are the key references that can be bought from Amazon for Kindle on the iPad?

Business Model Generation Handbook – Alexander Osterwilder and Yves Pigneur

The Four Steps to the Epiphany – Steven Gary Blank

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid – CK Prahalad

What is the most critical financial factor in the sustainability of the incubators as viable businesses?

The profit and loss statement and cash flow projections. Each is essential but neither is sufficient by itself.

How much can the Consortia’s clients invest in capital?

A maximum of 25% of the budget of a start up can be devoted to fixed capital items using UniBRAIN/Danida funds.  Investments requiring more than this will depend on finding additional sources of financing but leveraging the UniBRAIN funds should be helpful in this. Indeed a mix of financing should be the normal approach.

Note: the Consortium itself will require only such capital items as required for their offices, communications and essential transport

Should the Consortia provide loans to their incubates?

UniBRAIN/Danida funds cannot be used for loans and the consortia are encouraged to leave lending to the specialized microcredit agencies and banks who have the wherewithal to service them.  However, the incubators may help with developing business plans, conducting due diligence and bringing groups of small business together and providing continued technical assistance which will be welcomed by the finance houses and should secure more favourable terms

How can the services provided by the incubator to its clients be separated from, yet linked with, the business of the clients?

The incubator will have its own business model which will list the potential clients it seeks to service in the Client Segment.

The clients and incubates will list the Incubator in the Partner Segment.

This overlap will be essential to the audit of the viability of the respective business models

Questions concerning the present grants agreements for US$ 25,000

What is the most critical clause?

1. Pursuant to the above FARA has agreed to make available to FPTD the sum of US$25,000 to support the establishment of IDBPA consortium as an independent commercial and legal entity that is able to function as such subject to the terms and conditions hereinafter stated

In the short time and limited funding available how can the consortia meet the requirements listed in the appendix terms of reference?

The Consortia are expected to establish that they have achieved implementation readiness  with statements supported by evidence on the design and implementation of their action plans and the progress made against each of the 7 points.

Where it has not been possible to fully complete the actions the progress to date should be documented supported where appropriate by draft documents.  These will be considered, first by the UniBRAIN Partners and on their recommendation by the UniBRAIN Executive Committee, in the context of the funds and time that have been available to your consortium. 

For example, the business models and plans need to be developed sufficiently to demonstrate potential viability, but it is understood that full development of the business models and those of the prospective clients will be the responsibility of the Incubator manager who cannot be recruited until the Incubator has secured confirmation of the UniBRAIN grant and received the funds necessary meet the costs of the recruitment process. 

Who can help in completing the business plan?

In completing the business plans the Consortia should also be able to draw on the services of the UniBRAIN partners which has not been possible to date. The services include for example:

ANAFE – help determining how to use the incubator to strengthen agribusiness education, achieve curricula change and develop contextually appropriate teaching and learning materials and approaches

PanAAC – help in identifying and motivating potential mentors, locating firms for match making and guidance for soft landings

SROs – help in identifying products ready for commercialization and in identifying what the agricultural research institutions can offer by way of support for incubates in developing and validating their products.

ABI-ICRISAT – help in developing business plans and procedures and criteria for recruiting key staff and selecting and financing incubatees.

How will the Consortium fund the outstanding pre-implementation activities such as recruiting staff and completing customer development?

The plan for the completion of the uncompleted tasks should be factored into the request for the first grant to the Consortium which will not exceed US$ 100,000. This will be used for the establishment of the Consortium’s office, the recruitment of the senior staff (possibly including one recruited with the assistance of AMSCO) and further customer and product development.