Business stakeholders in Cape Town and Miami are pushing for direct nonstop flights between the two cities, both considered gateways to emerging markets — Florida to Latin America, and the Western Cape to the rest of Africa, CapeBusinessNews reported.
There’s a strong case for a direct flight between Cape Town and Miami, according to Western Cape tourism and business leaders with strong connections to the U.S. U.S. officials back that up.
The U.S. is the No. 1 foreign direct investor in the Western Cape province, its third largest tourism source market with 200,000 arrivals in 2015, and the fifth largest buyer of Western Cape products.
Miami is the fourth largest economy in the U.S. with over 19 million residents and there is pent up demand for direct flights to Cape Town, said Abigail Ellary, director of Enterprise Florida, a public-private partnership between Florida’s business and government leaders. Enterprise Florida is the principal economic development organization for Florida.
U.S. businesses have shown strong investment numbers for the Cape region and a direct flight would drive exponential growth, said Brett Omdahl with the U.S. Commercial Service.
Stakeholders attended a meeting Friday with Cape Town Air Access, a collaboration between the Western Cape Provincial Government; the City of Cape Town; Cape Town Tourism; Airports Company of South Africa which operates nine of South Africa’s airports; and Wesgro, the Western Cape Investment and Trade Promotion Agency.
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Nonstop Flights From Miami To Cape Town On The Table
Business stakeholders in Cape Town and Miami are pushing for direct nonstop flights between the two cities, both considered gateways to emerging markets — Florida to Latin America, and the Western Cape to the rest of Africa, CapeBusinessNews reported.
There’s a strong case for a direct flight between Cape Town and Miami, according to Western Cape tourism and business leaders with strong connections to the U.S. U.S. officials back that up.
The U.S. is the No. 1 foreign direct investor in the Western Cape province, its third largest tourism source market with 200,000 arrivals in 2015, and the fifth largest buyer of Western Cape products.
Miami is the fourth largest economy in the U.S. with over 19 million residents and there is pent up demand for direct flights to Cape Town, said Abigail Ellary, director of Enterprise Florida, a public-private partnership between Florida’s business and government leaders. Enterprise Florida is the principal economic development organization for Florida.
U.S. businesses have shown strong investment numbers for the Cape region and a direct flight would drive exponential growth, said Brett Omdahl with the U.S. Commercial Service.
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Top 10 Best Companies To Work For in South Africa
10. Cell C
South Africa’s third cellular provider is also the smallest in terms of workforce. However, this can act in its favour says the CRF Institute because it can act swiftly. “It also enjoys excellent relationships with stakeholders, while its flat structure adds to its nimble approach,” it said.
9. Coca-Cola South Africa
It could be easy to assume the world’s largest beverage company may treat their staff more like numbers than people – but this is far from the case. Black economic empowerment (BEE) is a priority for the company, extending to bottlers as well as initiative es in the local community.
8. Group Five Construction (Pty) Ltd
One of South Africa’s most established construction and engineering companies, Group Five has Level 3 accreditation for BEE. Built on proud traditions dating back to its early days in 1974, it has a strong diversification strategy, supported by its commitment to its shareholders, customers, employees and communities.
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Is deploying expat talent in Africa becoming increasingly unattractive?
As more and more businesses seek to become part of the ‘African growth story’ and expand across the continent, many are learning along the way that doing business in Africa poses some significant challenges – not least of which is securing key executive skills. Despite local talent being in short supply, many multinationals are finding that the traditional model of deploying expatriate executives in these countries is an increasingly unattractive option,
This according to Leon Ayo, CEO of Odgers Berndtson Sub-Saharan Africa, who said: “One of the biggest challenges companies face when entering Africa is securing experienced senior executives to execute their expansion plans.
“The local skills shortage is acute, mainly because many African businesses have not operated on a multinational scale for long enough, with the result that even qualified people do not have the necessary international experience.”
The appropriate skills for multinationals are thus typically sought among the expat communities in developed economies. According to a recent white paper issued by Odgers Berndtson, however, many companies are actively reducing the number of expat executives that they deploy across Africa.
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ZAR payments: How expats can minimise exchange rate losses
The past year hasn’t been a glorious period for the South African Rand. Compared to the USD, GBP, EUR, AUD and NZD, the ZAR lost significantly.
In 2015, the South African economy grew by 1,3%, down from 1,5% in 2014 and 2,2% in 2013. The slower economic growth was attributed to drought, which caused the agricultural sector to contract. Due to the ZAR’s weakness the mining sector, which produces a significant amount of materials for the export market, grew by 3%. This also stimulated trade (+1,4%).
About 41 000 South Africans live in New Zealand, more than 82 000 in the United States of America, over 145 000 live in Australia and the UK is the number one emigration destination with over 220 000 South Africans living there.
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