Source: http://www.siliconcape.com/
mLab Southern Africa has opened its application for membership. Through this initiative, mLab offers its members benefits such as subsidised office space, training and mentoring. The service is quite suited for start-ups and entrepreneurs in the mobile space. Head office of mLab Southern Africa will be opened at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria on September 15.
mLab Southern Africa is a consortium of four organisations facilitating demand-driven innovation by entrepreneurs and innovators so that breakthrough, low-cost, high-value mobile applications and sustainable businesses can be developed. The mLab SA focuses on invigorating and supporting the growth of mobile applications throughout southern Africa by providing services and support to mobile developers, innovators and entrepreneurs.
Their satellite office in Cape Town provides mobile development community with opportunities to network and connect and train their members. To do this they are keen to plug into the existing systems. “We’re going to run pretty lean and work with partners,” says Steve Vosloo, head of the Cape Town office, and Mobile Impact Evangelist for the group. The eventual goal is for the Cape Town office to offer all the same services as the main branch in Pretoria.
The project was initiated by the Finnish government when it approached the World Bank to help it spend a portion of its funds for developing nations effectively. The World Bank put out a call for proposals in the ICT space and picked five countries to host mLabs. Apart from South Africa, the other host countries are Kenya, Vietnam, Pakistan and Armenia.
All the mLabs work towards knowledge-sharing between themselves. In June, mLab SA met with the other mLabs at the Global Forum on Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship in Helsinki. A global website is being set up too.
mLab bid for Southern Africa was won by a consortium of four organisations: the CSIR Meraka Institute, The Innovation Hub, Innovation Lab and Ungana Africa. Each of these brought their individual strengths to the proposal.
With an initial funding from World Bank and a grant from the Department of Science and Technology, mLab has sufficient funding for two years. However, the goal is to create a sustainable business rather than being dependent on further funding.
The consortium generates its revenue from membership fees, besides charges for training programs and project management fees for running mobile innovation challenges and larger development projects.
