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Good practice Imported

Startup Incubator Gambia (SIG) — Kanifing's Business Incubation and Accelerator Hub

Gambia · Kanifing · See the Gambia profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 83% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2015, Startup Incubator Gambia (Kanifing) has incubated 62 entrepreneurs, trained 400+ youth, and helped launch 100+ businesses supporting 300+ jobs, with a self-reported 90% survival rate.

62 entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs incubated
60+ founders
Agribusiness founders accelerated
400+ youth
Youth trained in bootcamps
100+ businesses
Businesses established
300+ jobs
Jobs supported
90 %
Self-reported business survival rate
150+ entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs trained under Tekki Fii (GIZ/EU)
Startup Incubator Gambia (SIG) — Kanifing's Business Incubation and Accelerator Hub

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Startup Incubator Gambia (SIG)
Period
2015–present
Keywords
entrepreneurship, business incubation, MSME development, youth training

Context

Founded in 2015 and based in the Kanifing Institutional Layout near Banjul, Startup Incubator Gambia (SIG) was the first dedicated business incubator in The Gambia, a country where MSMEs generate around a fifth of GDP but, by SIG's own account, only about a third of owners have received formal business training.

Objectives

SIG runs a six-month incubation programme and a separate accelerator track, alongside co-working space, mentorship and design-thinking bootcamps for early-stage founders.

Activities

By its own reporting, SIG has incubated 62 young entrepreneurs and accelerated more than 60 agribusiness founders, run one-week boot camps for over 400 youth, and partnered with GIZ on the EU-funded "Tekki Fii" migration-and-enterprise project to train a further 150-plus entrepreneurs across the greater Banjul area.

Results

SIG reports having helped establish more than 100 businesses supporting over 300 jobs, with roughly 90% of those businesses still operating; one graduate, fashion designer Ndey Fatou Ceesay of NOIR, has gone on to show at Fashion Weekend Africa events in London and Denmark.

Conclusions

SIG is a member of the pan-African AfriLabs network, giving it external visibility and peer benchmarking, but its headline impact figures are self-reported and have not been independently audited, a caveat any adopting city should weigh alongside the organisation's decade-long, continuous operating track record.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Cost figures are not disclosed in available sources; funding includes SIG's own resources plus EU/GIZ funding via the Tekki Fii project.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Operating continuously since 2015, roughly a decade, including a six-month incubation cycle and a separate accelerator track.
Staffing & skills
Startup Incubator Gambia (Kanifing) core team, Partnership with GIZ under the EU-funded Tekki Fii migration-and-enterprise project

Conditions for success

  • Combination of incubation, acceleration, co-working space, mentorship and design-thinking bootcamps
  • Membership in the pan-African AfriLabs network for visibility and peer benchmarking
  • Diversified funding beyond a single donor cycle, including EU/GIZ support

Common failure modes

  • Headline impact figures (businesses, jobs, survival rate) are self-reported by SIG and have not been independently audited

Where it fits

Governance type
NGO/private incubator
Scale
city-level (Kanifing/greater Banjul)
Income level
low-income

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