Business incubators in Africa: a review of the literature

Abiodun Egbetokun

Innovation and Development, 2025, vol. 15, issue 2, 233-260

Abstract: This paper reviews research on business incubators in Africa, as a policy tool for supporting entrepreneurial businesses. Combining bibliometric and narrative approaches, it identifies five themes in the literature: incubator types and support; incubator performance and innovation; incubator impact on businesses and economy; incubator role in start-ups; and incubator as enabler of learning. It also highlights gaps for future research, including the lack of studies on climate change and industrialization; the limited evidence on how to improve incubator support; the absence of studies on adaptive, responsive and inclusive incubators; and the scarcity of rigorous impact evaluations. The paper concludes that incubators are useful for enterprise development in Africa but need collective research and policy efforts to strengthen their contribution.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/2157930X.2023.2295090

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