South African Business 2016 edition

OVERVIEW
Regional overview: Western Cape
One of the world’s premier tourism meccas, and a province renowned for its exquisite
natural splendours, the Western Cape is home to a booming tourism market, diverse
manufacturing, world-class infrastructure and Africa’s largest wine exporter.
Positive future
When assessing what the Western Cape has achieved over the
past years, Wesgro CEO Tim Harris is positive about its future.
The province, for starters, has performed well on the Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) front, he says. “When it comes to FDI, we
are doing quite well. Since 2010, the Western Cape brought in
R7 billion, of which the bulk has gone to the services, technology,
and communications industries,” Harris explains. “Apart from
contributing to the provincial economy, these FDI projects have
created 4 000 permanent jobs for instance in the manufacturing
sector, as well as countless indirect jobs.”
Wesgro figures show that the United Kingdom and the United
States were responsible for the bulk of the FDI inflows into
the Western Cape, with shares of respectively 26% and 23%.
Other major investors were The Netherlands (8%), Germany
(7%) and France (5%). A country that is gaining momentum in
the Western Cape on the FDI front is China, with Hisense being
one of the most important investors. This Chinese manufacturer
of consumer electronics and household appliances opened a
25 200m 2 factory in Atlantis – an
impoverished area some 40km
outside of Cape Town, on the
West Coast. This town used
to be a thriving manufacturing
hub until the sector started to
crumble. leading to high levels
of unemployment.
Resurrecting Atlantis
Harris adds that the future
for Atlantis is set to change,
and that Hisense is just the
beginning, as Atlantis is in the
process of being established
as a Special Economic Zone
(SEZ) with a specific focus on
manufacturing and renewable
energy. Another important
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