Introduction Sustainability Access to Finance for the Young Enterprises Community Leadership Market Development Selection of the Right Youngsters to Run A Business Inclusiveness of (Young) Women in Women Unfriendly Areas Fruitful Mentor System Smart Models / Tools for Young Enterprises On Rural Hub-Making Most Promising Initiatives
A sense of community and co-ownership is at the core of all successful hubs (Impact Hub). "Virtual" Hubs and Incubators (Virtual = “location- independant”)
  • Clubs at secondary schools: Youth Enterprise Society (YES), a South African, secondary school extracurricular entrepreneurship club network. Aim: combats youth unemployment through exploring entrepreneurship. Over 300 societies/ club involving over 12,000 learners (in 2008). Program of Education With Enterprise Trust (http://www.ewet.org.za)
  • Incubation servies at participants homes, businesses, community spaces and implementing partner premises: AIDOS’ Virtual Business Incubators
Insights (relevant to non-ICT rural hub-making) from InfoDev’s Lessons on Virtual Business Incubation Services:
  • Reinforcing a sense that “members own the community” helps to avoid ‘client' or ‘beneficiary’ attitudes.
  • Diversity enriches the hub-community. Rural communities and markets are small, and young entrepreneurs resist sharing and openness; diversity helps in combatting this.
Focus on the brand: Rural incubation spaces need to educate the community about what they do and who they are, and continue to project their identity. Business plan competitions and other community event hosting opportunities can be helpful here (Jezzine Hub). Most hubs (incubators, co-working spaces, labs, etc.) in the Middle East are urban based. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arab_entrepreneurship_initiatives