A new incubator for entrepreneurs and innovators, focusing on mobile technology, has opened for membership.

mLab SA, which will be officially launched in Pretoria in September, has invited mobile developers and entrepreneurs with a start-up business, organisation or mobile idea to  apply to become members.

The incubator intends to provide incubation support to mobile developers and entrepreneurs through a variety of services.

These include subsidised office space with meeting rooms to benefit from being part of the mobile start-up community; training and accreditation on mobile technologies and entrepreneurship; business mentoring and coaching; business intelligence, such as privileged access to market research information; testing of mobile apps and services in dedicated test bays; and organising regular events for networking and knowledge sharing.

The incubator will further assist members in accessing finance, whether this is through grants, seed capital, angel investors or venture capitalists.

At present three types of membership are available. Community membership is free and open to anyone. Silver and Gold memberships, however, require applicants to be interviewed before membership is granted.

Additionally, Silver and Gold members pay a fee to access the core services of the mLab SA at the facility in The Innovation Hub, and receive more structured support from the incubator team and its partners.

While the head office will be in Pretoria, a number of satellite offices are also planned, and a Cape Town satellite office is in the process of being established.

Support services will either be delivered directly by mLab SA, or through external providers to which members will be directed, such as the Bandwidth Barn’s business mentoring program.

Applications can be submitted via the mLab SA website, www.mlab.co.za/apply, where further information regarding membership can also be found.