SEDA together with the Western Cape Provincial Government have committed the funds required to run the incubator for the first three years.
The last hurdle now is the completion of a feasibility study, being undertaken by SEDA.
As part of this process a consultant from SEDA may contact you re the completion of this study. Please give them all possible assistance, as this is not only important for the incubator, but also for other projects in our local industry, like the tech conference.
Once the feasibility study is completed (and assuming the conclusion is positive) the incubator will open its doors. This is most likely going to be 1 August 2012.
Physical incubatees (hosted onsite) will benefit from the following:
- co-located with like minded tech companies under one roof
- significantly reduced costs for shared services (office space ,connectivity, phones, meeting rooms, etc)
- regular training and information sessions
- regular informal networking and brainstorming sessions
- participation in regional and national exhibitions and conferences
- exposure to many regional initiatives, projects and interventions
- etc
In the interim we want to start running “virtual” incubation programs, so as to assist and prepare incubatees for the road ahead. These virtual programs will induce seminars on topics such as
- contracts with suppliers & customers
- protecting intellectual property
- product development
- product packaging
- product marketing
- etc
If you are at all interested in becoming an incubatee in the incubator, let me know. We are already starting the process of drawing up a list of candidates, and there will be limited spaces available for onsite incubatees, with the others having to join the virtual program.
The eligibility requirements are fairly flexible, with the key ones being your business must be Garden Route based and must operate within the tech industry.
Also let me know what virtual programs you would like to participate in, so we can see what is required in the short term from a mentorship perspective. The list is not limited to what i mentioned above.
Please respond to this mail with comments and suggestions, it is now up to us to make the incubator a success.
