The mLab Southern Africa (SA) is now accepting members! Read about our different types of membership and how to apply below.
Why become a member?
Types of membership
What we look for
Why become a member?
There has never been a more exciting time to be a mobile developer or entrepreneur in Southern Africa. Recent articles in The Economist’s Intelligent Life magazine, Time magazine and Wired UK attest to the “mobile revolution” that is sweeping the “Silicon Savannah” of Africa. How mobile uptake is impressive – with still enormous growth opportunities, how both big and small businesses are making money out of mobile apps and content services, and how mobile is really touching peoples’ lives in almost every way, from banking, to healthcare to education. In addition, the unique service delivery demands, opportunities, and challenges of this developing world region are underserved by traditional hotbeds of innovation, like Silicon Valley. All of this adds up to one big mobile opportunity.
But the enormous mobile opportunity doesn’t mean that it’s easy to create a sustainable business or organisation in mobile. Competition is stiff. The mobile landscape is highly uneven across different technologies, user groups and countries. Mobile developers are scarce and expensive. And most of all, a startup company or organisation is very vulnerable. It needs business, technical and financial support. It can benefit greatly from acceleration and incubation.
This is where the mLab Southern Africa (SA) comes in. We offer the following support services to mobile developers and entrepreneurs to help them create sustainable businesses and organisations through mobile:
- Subsidised office space with meeting rooms and excellent internet connectivity to allow members to benefit from being part of the mobile startup community.
- Training and accreditation on mobile technologies and entrepreneurship.
- Business mentoring and coaching, e.g. assistance with a business plan or mobile app monetisation strategy.
- Business intelligence, such as privileged access to market research information and knowledge repositories.
- Testing of mobile apps and services in dedicated test bays, which include handsets and virtual emulators, SDKs, training materials, etc. Certification of applications on key app stores.
- Regular events for networking and knowledge sharing.
- Access to finance: Linkages with funding instruments such as grants and seed capital, and angel investors and venture capitalists.
- Outsourcing: Facilitated access to decision makers, markets, deals and contracts.
- Shared services such as reception, internet, test laboratories, etc. allow entrepreneurs to lower their burn rate and extend the survivability of their ideas.
These services are either delivered directly by the mLab SA, or through external providers to which we point members, e.g. the Bandwidth Barn’s business mentoring program.
The mLab SA wants to grow the mobile ecosystem on all levels — even advocating for mobile development and innovation to government and the business sector. If you are in mobile in Southern Africa, you can benefit from being a member of the mLab SA.
To access our support, you need to become a Community, Silver or Gold member.
Types of membership
Community member
What you get
Keep informed of mobile news, training, events, RFPs, competitions and more.
How to join/requirements
Anybody can join by signing up to the mLab SA newsletter, the Mobile Memo.
Dues
Free
Silver member
What you get
All Community member benefits plus:
- Use of mLab SA offices: hot-desking (no reservations – “move your feet, lose your seat”) and use of meeting rooms. Permanent seats can also be taken.
- Networking opportunities.
- Access to business mentoring and coaching.
- First option on training offered by mLab SA.
- Access to some training only for Silver and Gold members.
- Training discounts.
- Access to confidential business intelligence (if applicable).
How to join/requirements
To become a Silver member you:
- Must be working on a mobile app or content service that has the potential to become sustainable or scalable.
- Must be vetted in a face-to-face meeting.
Silver members must hold quarterly progress meetings with mLab SA staff. If there is no significant progress by the team then membership will be revoked.
Dues
- Membership: R1000/month
- Permanent seats (not hot-desking): R1500/seat
Apply to become a Silver member now.
Gold member
What you get
All Silver member benefits plus:
- Use of mLab SA offices: hot-desking (no reservations – “move your feet, lose your seat”) and use of meeting rooms. Permanent seats can also be taken.
- Dedicated mentoring and business support from internal and external providers.
- Full endorsement from mLab SA (with no reservation) to those looking for contractors, developers, suppliers.
- Partner with mLab SA on outsourced deals.
- Access to finance.
How to join/requirements
This is the most elite level. The same requirements apply as for Silver members. In addition, to become a Gold member a team must be pursuing a new business venture that demonstrates significant potential for growth and sustainability, and must have been interviewed by mLab SA staff.
For the mLab SA, Gold members are those that can develop breakthrough, low-cost, high-value mobile applications and sustainable businesses, and have a demonstrated track record that allows the mLab to endorse the team to its partners.
Joining is ad hoc – each team has a bespoke deal structured for them, for example, some Gold members are not based in mLab SA incubator offices. They could take offices within mLab SA or at partner incubators.
Dues
Same as for Silver members:
- Membership: R1000/month
- Permanent seats (not hot-desking): R1500/seat
Apply to become a Gold member now.
What we look for
The mLab SA aims to be a regional leader in identifying and supporting the growth of sustainable mobile companies and organisations in the knowledge economy. What does that mean? We look for the following from our members:
- Innovation in the use of mobile apps or content services.
- More than just ideas. We look for business models that are feasible and thought through.
- Passion and commitment to grow the idea into a sustainable business or organisation.
- The desire to scale-up the application. We like people who think BIG.
In the end the success of the mLab SA will be measured by the number of companies or organisations that graduate from our incubator into competitive and sustainable enterprises, as well as the number of jobs created in Southern Africa by the mLab’s current and past incubation clients.
If you think you have what it takes to grow your startup with us, then you should apply for Silver or Gold membership. If you are just happy to be part of the mLab community for now, then join here.
