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The hothouse effect: Jim Duffy, chief executive optimist at Glasgow-based social enterprise Entrepreneurial Spark, explains how business incubators can help new ventures to flourish.

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Business incubators are organisations that apply a range of methods to nurture the growth of start-up and early-stage enterprises. Some are located in an actual physical space that's designed to foster networking among entrepreneurs and their coaches, while others operate virtually. Those that are geared towards helping slightly more mature ventures tend to call themselves accelerators.

Many have capital to invest and can offer access to further funding sources, professional service providers and other useful contacts. They are increasing in popularity - the US-based National Business Incubation Association claims to have more than 1,900 members in 60 countries.

Going it alone in business for the first time can be a daunting prospect. But, with the right product or service, plenty of market research, hard work and determination, it can also be highly rewarding. Entrepreneurial Spark offers a free business incubator service that helps early-stage and growing ventures to flourish. The programme kicks off with a "boot camp" training session that introduces the owners of new ventures to the challenges they will face on their entrepreneurial journey. They then have the chance to move their firms into one of our three "hatcheries", based in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundonald in rural Ayrshire, where they are provided with free office space. Wi-Fi internet connections and IT...

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