Western Cape Business 2017 edition

SPECIAL FEATURE
punctuating it for many months: this is the Cape
Town Film Studios, which hosted the Black Sails
production team. More than 19 000 filming permits
were issued by the City of Cape Town between
2014 and October 2016. Universal Studios
and Disney have a presence in Cape Town. The
city of George is another important hub for the
film industry.
• Business Process Outsourcing (BPO): Amazon
and Asda are just two big international companies
that have call centres in Cape Town. Many
more have signed up for similar services, and
many more are expected. The national BPO association
says that 5 000 jobs were created in
South Africa in 2015, and it expects this to accelerate
in 2017.
• Green economy: Atlantis is being promoted as
a green economy manufacturing hub. The renewable
energy sector is growing very fast and
opportunities are opening in many fields; biogas
and use of waste are areas of huge potential. The
Western Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme,
or WISP, has achieved some major milestones
in diverting organic waste and saving in greenhouse
fossil gases. WISP is a GreenCape initiative.
Each of the sectors listed above could be categorised
as “tech” industries. Another one that could fall
in this category is “design”. The Western Cape wants
to lead in innovation.
Renewable energy, the green economy, energy
efficiency – all of these related concepts, once just
a fuzzy dream, have become the bedrock of future
business plans.
Green buildings are becoming much more than
a “nice-to-have”. A planned residential development
in Somerset West, the Blue Rock Village with 1 000
flats, will be powered by solar power and have water
and energy management systems. The Hotel Verde
at Cape Town International Airport claims to be
carbon neutral and has a six-star rating from the
Green Building Council of South Africa.
Small, medium and micro enterprises are said
to create jobs faster than large concerns. To bolster
the SMME sector, the Industrial Development
Corporation is supporting the Philippi Village
Container Walk, an initiative of The Business Place
and Bertha Foundation initiative. A total of 127 containers
house entrepreneurs of every sort from shoe
shops, barbers and construction material retailers to
accountants, NGOs and a LEAP Science and Maths
School training centre.
The annual Premier’s Entrepreneurship
Recognition Awards (PERA) has received more than
1 000 entries since 2013. Some of the categories in
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