CEBU CITY, Philippines – In a move to boost growth in the local economy, a German- capacity building organization is pushing for the development of more business incubation facilities throughout the country.

“An incubator is a tool to help people start business successfully. It is a facility where start-up entrepreneurs begin their business with the help of experts who will train them how to effectively run and manage their firms,” explained  Franz Dietrich, economic adviser of Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmgh or Inwent, who also pointed out that such business tool “is ideal especially for new businesses lacking in funding.”

Last Monday, InWent, led by its senior project manager, Dr. Joachim Langbein, welcomed eight Filipinos and nine Indonesians to a “Train the Trainors” workshop at the Cebu City Marriott Hotel. Said workshop was intended to convey technical expertise to local residents in the hope that they can, in turn, train others in managing a business incubator.

Dietrich noted that the Philippines needs at least 200 business incubation facilities in the next 10 years.

He added that for emerging countries, setting up one incubation facility would need initial funding from the public sector of at least USD$200,000  with additional financial support of USD$60,000-80,000.

All incubation facilities, Dietrich said, must be sustainable after five years.

Langbein informed that the Business Incubation in Southeast Asia or (Bizi) project was first launched in Thailand in 2003, then subsequently introduced to Vietnam in 2004 and the Philippines and Indonesia in 2006.

According to Dietrich, business incubation facilities is a fairly new idea among Asian countries but has already gained strong roots in Germany and other parts of Europe.

In the Philippines, there are four incubation facilities located in Nueva Ecija focused on agriculture and fisheries; one in Los Baños for power technology; and one technology business incubator at the University of the Philippines Cebu College.