Galxcoc funders to pick up free service tap
Incubation at the hub will be no Mickey Mouse business, says Galxcoc's Patrick Mpho Baloyi.
The Greater Alexandra Chamber of Commerce and Industry has partnered with various private sector companies to fund the services that will be provided by the free Galxcoc Digital Incubation Hub.
The recently launched state-of-the-art hub, which will be housed at the Motsweding House offices of Galxcoc on Arkwright Avenue in Wynberg, Alexandra, will start taking in entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas from the end of April. Hub manager Patrick Mpho Baloyi said thereafter it will be a rigorous selection process to ensure that only the best of the best ideas are taken in for incubation.
Baloyi said all the services that will be offered at the incubation hub such as mentorships, use of office space, Wi-Fi, laptops, photocopying machine, telephone facilities, etc. will be accessed free of charge, but people will have to book in advance to use the office space.
Although these services will be offered free of charge during the year-long incubation programme, Baloyi said it was common knowledge that someone somewhere has to pick up the tab and pay for the services – hence, Galxcoc has sought these partnerships with the private sector to help alleviate the cost burden from its shoulders.
“We have made this hub a state-of-the-art facility so that entrepreneurs who come here know that we mean business and they too should not provide us with Mickey Mouse business ideas as we are going to do a thorough and rigorous selection process
“To join this year-long incubation programme will not be a walk in the park, and those that will come here once the selection process has been finalised will know that it’s not child’s play. We want people with innovative business ideas that will stand the test of time.”
Baloyi said Galxcoc also wanted to prove to its project funders and partners such as Software AG, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Datacentrix, Aruba, European Union, and Ecosystem Development for Small Enterprises (EDSE) that ‘we mean, not just business, but the serious business.
