Circular Incubator Program

The Circular  Incubator programme is contributing to the creation of a robust circular economy in Ghana where all resources are effectively used to maximize impact thereby avoiding waste. We provide early-stage social entrepreneurs on a cohort basis with business development training and consulting to develop their social businesses. Our social entrepreneurs go through a three-phase incubation program that helps them develop their social business ideas, prototype, test market-fit and grow their businesses.

Program format: 

Bootcamp Events (Pre-Incubation Phase)

The first phase of the Incubation period comprises an intensive three-day Bootcamp event that allows us to source talents, explore challenges and develop solutions to them. This will bring together about 50 participants who are passionate about global goals and want to make a difference using entrepreneurship. The format of the Bootcamp will involve concepts from global events such as the World Café, TechStars Start-up Weekend and the Global Goals Jam. Using the principles of human-centred design thinking participants will form teams, empathize, identify and define problems, ideate, rapid-prototyping, and testing. This is a non-linear process and will involve lots of iterations along the way to come up with robust solutions. The weekend will culminate with a “start-up pitching session” where participants will have a unique opportunity to present their refined ideas to a panel of jury members in the social enterprise space as well as the public. This will lead to the decision for the teams that will be selected to be part of the Recycle up! Incubator.

Incubation Period

Up to six teams will be selected from the Bootcamp to enter our business incubator phase. The incubation period will consist of a series of both online and offline workshops and activities will run for 6 months. Teams will go through in-depth training from business model validation, personality development and business etiquettes, team building to funding readiness. All workshops and training during this period will be designed to prepare our entrepreneurs to go on and establish successful social enterprises. Teams will also be paired with local and international mentors in their field of expertise to guide and support them in achieving their venture goals. This will be done in collaboration with partner institutions and organizations such as existing social enterprises, regulatory bodies, personal development coaches, educational institutions, government institutions, etc. Participants will also have free access to our hub space at Fumesua – Kumasi equipped with high-speed internet, conference rooms, on-site advisors and other office facilities.

Community Development & Alumni Network (Post Incubation Phase)

After the 6-month incubation period, entrepreneurs will be inducted into an alumni network where they can constantly receive technical support from Recycle Up! Ghana. We seek to build a community of like-minded entrepreneurs who will collaborate, share resources and support one another to achieve a common goal. This community will be made up of not only RUG Ambassadors and Alumni but in collaboration with our partners to help create a bigger voice of young industrious changemakers striving to see a brighter and better Ghana for posterity.