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SHE Incubator Program

The SHE Incubator Program is our inaugural program, first piloted in Cambodia in 2015. Since then we have worked with more than 150 women through our 6-month incubator, designed to work with micro-sized businesses with less than 5 paid employees, to help them scale.

Women micro entrepreneurs make up the majority of the business sector in Cambodia. For this reason, we design gender-specific and culturally tailored business training and mentoring programs that address the specific barriers female Cambodian entrepreneurs face, and provide them with the tools and resources they need to overcome those barriers.

Participants in SHE Incubator Programs have both rural and urban based micro and informal enterprises, across all sectors. They might be an early-stage startup with a tested product, or they might be an established family business in a rural village.

Program Structure

  • 13 days of workshops delivered over 6 months

  • 1:1, peer and group mentoring sessions

  • All content delivered in Khmer language, by Khmer female facilitators, and with gender and cultural lenses applied to all workshops

Program Objectives
  • Increase incomes for women and families
  • Increase business income, size and impact

  • Increase women’s decision-making power in their household and business

  • Improve women’s financial, business and problem-solving skills

  • Improve women’s confidence and create female leaders in communities

Curriculum
  • Financial literacy (home and business)
  • Problem-solving skills

  • Understanding effective business models

  • Goal setting and action planning

  • Marketing

  • Networking

  • People management and communication

  • Leadership

Impact Measurement
Impact is measured using the following indicators:
  • Business growth (increased revenue, infrastructure, and employees)

  • Household Financial Sustainability (increased household and family income, savings, and decreased debt)

  • Women’s Empowerment (increased confidence and decision-making power within households and businesses, and an increase in women’s leadership within communities)

      • 13 days of workshops delivered over 6 months

      • 1:1, peer and group mentoring sessions

      • All content delivered in Khmer language, by Khmer female facilitators, and with gender and cultural lenses applied to all workshops

Industry Specific Incubators

We partner with organisations and communities around the country to design and deliver industry-specific incubator programs, tailored to meet the needs of the program participants. We collaboratively co-design programs with our partners to ensure the best results for the women we work with, and their communities.

Examples of industry-specific incubators we have delivered with partners include:

Community Incubator

(Village-Based Micro Enterprises)

Partner: World Renew Cambodia

Program: Working with 30 women-led, village-based micro enterprises across a variety of sectors. All business owners were rurally based in Kampot Province, mostly with low education backgrounds and operating in the informal economy, accessing informal markets.

Impact:

  • 79% average increase in monthly revenue
  • 75% average increase in household savings
  • 77 family members directly financially supported by participants’ businesses
  • 10% of participants reported stepping into new leadership roles in their community for the first time
  • Participant’s businesses increased collective revenue by USD 20,569 monthly
  • 95% of participants report they are recording income & expenses
  • 50% of participants reported that they began to pay themselves a salary for the first time

Health Incubator

(Micro Health Clinics)

Partner: PSI Cambodia

Program: Working with 54 women across 3 program groups, all participants were female midwives that were part of PSI Cambodia’s network. The program was designed to improve and scale micro health clinics, in turn creating improved health outcomes for communities.

Impact:

  • 57% average increase in monthly revenue

  • Total increased revenue across all businesses was USD 31,958 monthly, or USD 383,946 annually

  • 176 family members are being directly financially supported by participants’ businesses

  • 39 new jobs were created

  • 39 women increased their monthly revenues (72% of participants)

  • 28% average increase in household savings

  • Total increased savings across all households was USD 153,464

  • Total decreased debt across all households was USD 76,910

  • 18% average decrease in debt

Women in WASH Incubator

(Micro-small businesses selling latrines)

Partner: iDE Cambodia

Program: Working with up to 15 women who run WASH enterprises in Siem Reap Province. All business owners are part of iDE’s WASH network of construction businesses that build a sell latrines to rural households, in order to reduce open defecation in villages.

Impact:

This program is currently being implemented. More to come soon.

Find Out More

To find out more about our Incubator and Accelerator Programs, contact us.

If you want to participate in a program and get SHE’s help to grow your business, apply here