The Small Enterprise Development Agency's ICT incubator programme was relaunched under a new name as the Nelson Mandela Bay I-hub.
The programme formally known as, the Seda NMB ICT Incubator, is now stationed at the Kwantu Towers in Govan Mbeki Avenue.
The chairman of the Nelson Mandela Bay I-Hub, Darryl Dennis, revealed the new name, selection criteria and structure of the incubator at the official launch on Monday.
Dennis said future application to the incubator would be judged by a panel of information and communication technology (ICT) experts.
"Our main objective is to remain at the cutting edge of the fast-paced ICT sector. To achieve this, we need to focus on technologies that have the potential for disrupting existing value chains to facilitate market access whilst contributing to social development including automation and robotics, educational technology, smart agriculture, big data analytics, cloud computing and blockchain technology," said Dennis.
The post Incubation Programme is to ensure that ICT professionals under the programme continue to contribute to the ICT sector in the Bay.
Dennis said the incubation programme would be divided into three phases the bronze phase, silver phase, and the gold phase.
The bronze phase would run for three months, the silver phase would be six months then the gold would run for between 12-24 months.
"Incubatees will need to graduate from each phase to progress to the next phase, ensuring that only serious business owners continue to benefit from the resources of the Nelson Mandela Bay I-Hub," he said.
Dennis said the bronze phase would conclude with a fully registered business, a completed business canvas, and product/service concept.
Adding, that at the end of the silver phase the incubatee should be able to prove earned revenue and have achieved market readiness.
"The gold phase, the incubatee must be ready to exit the incubator at 24 months with self-sustainable revenue, established business processes, and be non-reliant on incubation services," Dennis said.
Dennis said the goal was for the Nelson Mandela Bay I-hub to become accessible to the community of Nelson Mandela Bay and not only clients of the hub.
"This is our vision. However, the first step is to get clients and partners on board who will enable us to make that vision a reality. With our focus on disruptive technologies, our stricter selection criteria, expert judging panel and our new outcomes-based programme that is deadline driven, a new benchmark is set for ICT professionals that will encourage innovation, and hopefully attract more investors to the ICT sector in the Nelson Mandela Bay,"he said.
Interventions in the pipeline for the Nelson Mandela Bay I-Hub for the next two years include a Software Engineering Training Lab and App Factory, an E-health platform for poor communities, two E-learning Platforms, and the Enterprise Development Intranet.
