Business Incubation in Dar es Salaam

Business incubation is increasingly emphasized on development agendas globally as a tool for entrepreneurship, employment and economic growth. Previous studies focus on comparing European and US business incubators, and outcomes of business incubation in sub-Saharan African settings are comparatively unknown. This paper contributes to the understanding of business incubation in Tanzania by focusing on three themes of business incubation identi fi ed from 43 semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs and people working with entrepreneurs in Dar es Salaam: 1. The role of the entrepreneur and how it in fl uences business incubation; 2. The business incubator aim and outcome; 3. Perceived constraints for business incubation in Dar es Salaam. Findings include: 1. The variety of entrepreneurship demands additional types of support to generate a valuable contribution; 2. There is a risk that business incubators become excluding organizations, cementing existing roles in society; 3. Business incubators may compensate for constraints on entrepreneurship, but it is important to make them fi t local needs