Ibuka is a premium incubation and acceleration program established by the NSE PLC in 2018. The program seeks to support companies to reach their next stage of growth through an incubation and acceleration program tailor made to suit their needs. Through the various stages, the Program is designed to prepare companies to raise capital and be investor ready through various capital market options available at the NSE PLC.
The program equally has a panel of advisors and consultants who provide expert advisory services to companies admitted on the program. The Ibuka program is anchored on two non-trading Boards, the incubator Board and the Accelerator Board.
Incubator Board
The incubator Board is the first stage of the program. Once enrolled on this Board, a company undergoes an in-depth evaluation and analysis that focuses on various aspects of the enterprise including growth drivers, internal strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Following the evaluation, a diagnostics report recommending various interventions and restructuring initiatives to accelerate business growth is developed.
A restructuring exercise targeted on the respective company’s financial, governance, operational, commercial, strategic, , environmental as well as legal aspects is undertaken.
Following the restructuring, the company is promoted to join the Accelerator Board of the program. The minimum revenue requirement for joining the Incubator Board is Kshs. 250 Million for the previous audited financial year.
Accelerator Board
This is the final stage of the program. Enterprises on this stage of the program are advised on available capital raising opportunities provided by the NSE. The Board enables companies develop specialized capital raising documents that will guide the enterprises fund raising initiatives. Some of the documents produced at this stage include; capital raising options report, transaction implementation plan, equity valuation report, offer pricing report, offer memorandum among others. The minimum revenue requirement for joining the Accelerator Board is Kshs. 500 Million for the previous audited financial year.
Benefits of the Ibuka Program
The Ibuka program offers a wide range of benefits to entities including;
Capital Markets Access– The Ibuka Program provides enterprises with a unique opportunity to have direct access to capital market players including regulators and advisors. The exposure provides companies knowledge of key considerations when companies want to access public capital markets to raise funds and accelerate growth.
Visibility– The Ibuka program provides companies access to increased visibility opportunities that enhancing their profile. The program exposes companies to media, investors, analysts as well as other key stakeholders. Visibility of the company is supported through various media engagements initiatives by the NSE as well as a weekly list of all the companies on the program shared to a database of over 10,000 investors locally and internationally.
Expert Advisory-The program provides company’s access to a host of advisors and consultants who offer expert advisory and consulting services to the enterprises.
Business Sustainability-The program enables companies develop relevant corporate governance structures that enhance decision making thus enhance the probability of the business to continue operating successfully.
Value Discovery– The program enables companies enhance their value as well as establish their objective market valuation through various initiatives.
The Process of Joining the NSE Ibuka Program
All companies that would like to join the Program will be subjected to a 5 stage process as per follows:
- Fill in and Submit application documents to join the program as a Hostee company.
- Review and evaluation of the application documents by the NSE.
- Invitation of the senior management of the applicant company to a vetting interview by the NSE.
- Recommendation by the NSE to the Board based on steps (2) and (3) above.
Based on outcome from step (4) above, the company will be hosted on the respective Boards.
All advisors and consultants who would like to join the program will be subjected to a 5 stage process;
- Fill in and Submitt application documents to join the program as a consultant or advisor.
- Review and evaluation of the document by the NSE.
- Invitation of the senior management of the applicant company to a vetting interview by the NSE.
- Recommendation by the NSE to the Board based on steps (2) and (3) above.