# mLab Southern Africa

> mLab Southern Africa is a nonprofit digital skills and enterprise development company that trains young South Africans, supports early-stage technology businesses and develops digital solutions with public and private partners.

- **Founded:** 2011
- **Headquarters:** Pretoria, South Africa
- **Founders:** World Bank infoDev (Founding consortium member), Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (Founding consortium member), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (Founding consortium member), The Innovation Hub (Founding consortium member)
- **Products:** CodeTribe Academy, Tech Enterprise Development, Innovation Lab, STEP UP II, mLab Digital Enterprise Accelerator (mDEA)
- **Notable:** Undated official impact page reports 500 developers trained, including 45% women., Undated official impact page reports 200 startups supported, 500+ jobs and R150m+ raised by supported startups; that funding is not mLab revenue or mLab investment capital., CodeTribe expanded to Soweto in 2016 after an initial 36-student validation phase.

## Products & services

- **CodeTribe Academy** — Practical software development training and work experience covering mobile, web, cloud and agile teamwork; selection requirements vary by intake.
- **Tech Enterprise Development** — Early-stage business support including market validation, mentorship, go-to-market planning, MVP development and programme-specific grant seed funding.
- **Innovation Lab** — Digital solution co-creation with a social impact focus, including agricultural knowledge, youth opportunity discovery and river monitoring tools.
- **STEP UP II** — GIZ-supported digital and cloud career programme announced with a target of 100 young people across four provinces and SME placement opportunities.
- **mLab Digital Enterprise Accelerator (mDEA)** — July 2026-March 2027 programme: eight modules in 16 weeks, followed by support for 20 selected enterprises and grants for the final top three.

## Achievements

- Undated official impact page reports 500 developers trained, including 45% women.
- Undated official impact page reports 200 startups supported, 500+ jobs and R150m+ raised by supported startups; that funding is not mLab revenue or mLab investment capital.
- CodeTribe expanded to Soweto in 2016 after an initial 36-student validation phase.
- Four Introduction to IoT cohorts delivered under the MICT SETA partnership by July 2025.

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — mDEA applications announced for a July 2026-March 2027 programme; deadline was 29 June 2026.
- **2026-03** — Northern Cape Youth Technology Innovation Competition call announced.
- **2026-02** — Two CodeTribe graduates joined The Startup Legal.
- **2025-09** — STEP UP II partnership with GIZ announced with a target of 100 trainees.

## Links

- Website: https://mlab.co.za/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mlab-sa/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/mlabsa
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mLabSAStudio/videos
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mlab.sa/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mLabSA

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/mlab-southern-africa
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-07