Why Asia Needs Business Incubators for Under-Resourced Entrepreneurs
By Shweta Kakkar
I live in India, where poverty is never too far. Around me, I see people living in slums and little children dressed in rags begging on the streets. These descriptions paint a very bleak picture, and we have been trained to look at people in these communities only as representations of their deprivation.
I am not making light of the struggles of poverty, but I have had the privilege of knowing the people behind the deprivation and seeing their skills and abilities. The reason these friends of mine—and millions of others—are trapped in the vicious circle of poverty is because they lack the resources they need to grow. My belief is that some of the most effective weapons against poverty are inclusion and access, because they create a culture where people can obtain what they desire. Business incubators for under-resourced entrepreneurs are a powerful way to establish both inclusion and access.
Why business incubators?
First, business incubators for under-resourced entrepreneurs cultivate sustainability, empowering communities to find solutions to their own problems. I believe poverty alleviation efforts are best taken on by indigenous people who understand cultural contexts and values. The dreams that the outside world has for people living in the grip of extreme poverty may be absolutely meaningless for them. For example, I may envision providing poor communities with access to running water because I cannot imagine living without it. However, my intended beneficiaries probably don’t care about it. Instead, they may want a functioning hand pump, where the entire community can talk and spend time together, fill water in buckets and carry these buckets home, just as they are used to doing as part of their daily routine. It works for them. Aid or resources from outside tend to provide what they think the community needs, such as running water. However, when the community is able to earn sustained incomes through businesses that they themselves own, then the community can decide what it needs—and what it doesn’t.
Business incubators designed for under-resourced entrepreneurs consider their cultural context. The way we learn and approach things in our lives varies across cultures and regions. In India, even though I come from a relatively affluent family, I never assume that I can do whatever I want to do. We have few safety nets here, if any, and so we always prioritise our sustenance over our dreams. We are cautious. Everything is not open and possible for us. Our visas are denied more than they are accepted, anywhere in the world. There are hundreds of thousands of us competing for any particular thing, simply because our population is so enormous. Because of this, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to incubating a business. Any incubator designed for the under-resourced must understand our way of learning and approaching things.
Finally, business incubators for the under-resourced create knowledge systems that are accessible to everyone. In most societies across the world, knowledge is not accessible outside the mainstream corridors of education. If I am an under-resourced entrepreneur, I will face challenges in every stage of my business just like any other entrepreneur. The difference is that while the other entrepreneurs have been trained to access knowledge through years of education, I have little to no means of accessing knowledge systems easily. This is simply because they have not been designed for me. How then do I grow my business if I don’t have the resources to learn more about functions like costing or supply chain management? In this way, incubators level the playing field for businesses and give under-resourced entrepreneurs a real chance to create and run successful impact business.
How can you join our mission? First, JoyCorps wants to develop a pool of knowledge that is accessible to indigenous entrepreneurs. Support towards this will be very helpful. Secondly, we need to build a pool of technology that is audio-visual and caters specifically to small manufacturing businesses run by indigenous entrepreneurs and skilled artisans who are often illiterate.
Contact us to learn more.