The 2021 uYilo Mobility Programme is now accepting applications, with grants of up to ZAR1 million (US$73,000) available to help South African mobility startups attain market commercialization.
The uYilo eMobility Programme first provided what it calls “kickstart” funding to qualifying mobility and assistive projects in 2014, when the fund was created as part of uYilo’s mandate to enable, facilitate and mobilize e-mobility in South Africa.
All projects in the e-mobility ecosystem and value chain are encouraged to apply, and each will be reviewed against a set of criteria before being managed throughout the development process to meet a set of milestones in order to achieve a successful outcome.
“The switch to electric mobility is changing the transport landscape globally,” said uYilo director Hiten Parmar.
“A critical part of this transition for South Africa is to have localized content, promote local industry and encourage local job creation. This is both to reduce the reliance on imported technology and products, and to extract the maximum benefit from the minerals and other resources that are abundant in Africa.”
Applications can be submitted , and must be received by midday on June 30 in order to be considered for funding.