Open space for technologists, investors, tech companies and hackers in Nairobi.

Build-out of facilities for incubation, training and application testing at m:lab East Africa is scheduled for completion in mid May 2011. The lab is now taking applications to fill four of its business incubation slots. Application is open to start-up businesses with teams of 2 or more people. Applicants are required to demonstrate a strong inclination to mobile innovation. Successful companies will benefit from the facility’s subsidised infrastructure, facilitated access to markets and capital, privileged access to market research information among other services designed to help them grow into strong sustainable businesses. More information about the service offering is available on m:lab’s website.

Criteria for selection of applicants will include the start-up’s potential contribution to m:lab East Africa’s vision and strategic focus. This includes the start-ups potential contribution to making East Africa a global hub for mobile innovation. More so, successful applicants will be expected to rapidly grow out of incubation and to create quality jobs for regional populations in their contribution to East Africa’s social and economic development. More information about the main considerations for selection of applicants is available on m:lab’s website.

The online application process is accessible through the m:lab website. The process also uses the *iHub_ community infrastructure for information on team membership. Applicants can access the application form on the m:lab website using the credentials they have created on the iHub website.

m:lab East Africa is a Regional Mobile Applications Laboratory funded by a World Bank (Infodev) grant and hosted by the m:lab Consortium which won the bid in 2010 out of 39 applicants. The consortium consists of *iHub_, University of Nairobi, eMobilis and the World Wide Web Foundation. The lab is a pioneer initiative, being one of only 2 in Africa.

The lab aims to facilitate demand-driven innovation by local and regional entrepreneurs, ensuring that breakthrough low-cost, high-value mobile solutions can be developed and scaled-up into sustainable businesses that address social and economic needs. The facility’s services include business incubation, training, market research and application testing. The facility will also assist developers and entrepreneurs to access capital for scale up of their innovations as well as to access markets.

Other activities of the lab include creating code and knowledge repositories for developers and entrepreneurs to advance mobile innovation. PIVOT25 is also another activity of m:lab East Africa aimed at facilitating generation and competition for ideas to advance mobile innovation in the region.

The deadline for this call to apply for business incubation is 18th May 2011. Click here to begin the application process . Any queries on the application can be set to info <at> mlab.co.ke