Regularly ranked among the “top emerging start-up ecosystems” as well as “top tech employment hubs”, the City of Cape Town must create dynamic incentives for tech-business collaborations.
This is one of the suggestions local tech start-ups shared with the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) about how to attract more tech titans and entrepreneurs to the Mother City.
SweepSouth and PayU Payment Solutions are among the major players in the Cape Town tech ecosystem. In addition, the city boasts more than 450 tech firms, including Naspers, Takealot, Aerobotics, Clickatell, GetSmarter and Yoco, to name a few. The city’s tech ecosystem collectively employs more than 40 000 people.
Furthermore, the city’s global business services sector, also known as business process outsourcing, is outperforming many other industries, having attracted R3.4 billion in investments in the last three years.
Aisha Pandor, CEO of SweepSouth, says organisations like Silicon Cape, CiTi, SiMODiSA, and numerous incubators, accelerators and investors are helping Cape Town advance its status as the continent’s premier tech hub.
However, she believes more can be done to further promote tech businesses, and in doing so, drive economic growth and job creation.
Pandor suggests businesses and political leaders collaborate to improve basic infrastructure.
“Effective transportation systems to move workers around will benefit efforts to create innovation-economy jobs, while innovations in inner-city housing would allow hard-working start-up entrepreneurs and employees to work, live and play.
“City leaders should cultivate a climate for ‘liveability’ that people will talk about, to woo tech companies and investors from far afield.”
Additionally, Pandor believes the city must ensure a welcoming party is on-hand for overseas tech companies that set up shop in Cape Town. “The city’s officials could play a big part in welcoming new businesses by providing information on local services and linking them up with home-grown players.”
PayU says city officials must ensure investors see Cape Town as the burgeoning tech city that it is. “It is the most well-developed tech sector in the country and has seen the success of a start-up like Snapscan being sold to Standard Bank, etc. Most of the technology and fintech companies are based in Cape Town and there are several innovation hubs and an attractive lifestyle.”
PayU points out that start-ups continue to struggle with access to funding, especially those from previously disadvantaged communities. “This is another area Cape Town can address by creating more opportunities for start-ups to connect with prospective investors, incubators and accelerators.”
Sweepsouth and PayU are among the tech players based in Cape Town’s CBD, which is said to be committed to creating an enabling “DigiTech” environment.
The CBD is home to 16 co-working spaces, 80 ICT and telecoms entities, comprised of 62 information and communication technology firms, and 18 telecoms firms, 78 educational institutions and resources, 56 coffee shops and nine Internet cafes.
Pandor says she chose Cape Town’s central city f for SweepSouth’s headquarters because of its ‘vibe, coffee and central location’. Additionally, she loves the fact that tech-savvy people travel to Cape Town from all over the world.
“That’s played a big role in nurturing a sharing economy environment in which companies like Airbnb and SweepSouth flourish.”
The city’s mayoral committee member for corporate services, councillor Sharon Cottle, states: “Cape Town is already a leading centre of digital businesses and start-ups in Africa and is home to some of the world’s largest tech companies, such as Amazon. As a city, we must back this up with a commitment to harness digital technologies for better service delivery, economic development, and building a city that works for everyone.”
Tasso Evangelinos, CEO of the CCID, concludes: “It is heartening that the city and the CBD, thanks to a well-established tech ecosystem, continue to attract investment in the DigiTech space in spite of the harsh economic effects of COVID-19.”
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