Global business looks to Cape Town as African gateway
International businesses are increasingly setting up shop in Cape Town, using the city as a base to expand into Africa while creating jobs for locals.
Company bosses who have made the city their temporal home praise its infrastructure and resources.
And apart from jobs, locals also benefit from new technology, global business know-how and there is a knock-on effect for local suppliers.
Garreth Bloor, the city’s mayoral committee member for tourism, events and economic development, says international companies basing themselves in Cape Town have over the last four financial years contributed an estimated R2.4bn in foreign direct investment into the city.
LESS BUREUCRACY: City of Cape Town councilor Garreth Bloor says city officials have gone a long way to cut out red tape to stimulate international investment locally. Picture Yazeed Kamaldien
Over the same period, they have collectively ensured an estimated 6 448 jobs in an economy struggling to create jobs for a sizable unemployed population.
These companies are also based in various parts of the Western Cape and include electronics manufacturers, management consultancies and renewable energy operations.
At the Hisense South Africa head office in Canal Walk, the company’s general manager Youbo Li says they opened their factory in Atlantis in 2013.
