Abstract:
Business Incubation is a process of helping entrepreneurs in developing their business idea into a
viable business. Even if the incubation industry began sixty years ago in the USA, it is at the infant
stage in Ethiopia. Due to this newness, the availability of previous researches is very limited.
Therefore, the main objective of this research paper is to investigate the effects of services of
Business Incubator on the Startup's development. A single organization case study research
method with multiple embedded subcases was used, and due to the smallness of the population and
experts in the field, the sampling method was total population purposive sampling, then to
accurately investigate such focused activity the data was analyzed qualitatively. Interview was the
primary source for the research data. Application form and business canvas model were used as
a secondary data to understand the strength of the startup before joining iceaddis. Selected
startups and staff of iceaddis who closely work with the startups were interviewed to gather
primary data. In order to generate a holistic answer for the main research question the analysis
of the collected data was made in two ways. The first analysis per startup aimed at pointing out
which provided service contributed the most. The second analysis per activity investigates which
entrepreneurial activity was completed with the direct or indirect support of the incubation center.
The analysis result of this research shows that about 80 percent of the entrepreneurial activities
were completed by the direct or indirect contribution of the incubator, pointing that the service
provided by the incubator are significantly important for the startup's development. The result of
the first analysis indicates that business support service counted the most important service of
incubation service for the startup’s development followed by shared physical space and
infrastructure and access to network. The second analysis yielded 21 entrepreneurial activities
that are being completed with the help of the incubator. The research concludes that the business
incubation center has provided essential services that helps for the startups development. The
research also recommends that the business incubator should give more emphasis on creating
network resources especially for financing the startups and the government must put emphasis on
funding, decrease taxes, improve infrastructure, as well as launch the training program in
collaboration with the business incubators.