South African Business 2020 edition
A unique guide to business and investment in South Africa. Welcome to the eighth edition of the South African Business journal. First published in 2011, the publication has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to South Africa. Regular pages cover all the main economic sectors of the South African economy and give a snapshot of each of the country’s provincial economies. A special feature focusses on the huge potential for growth and job creation which the tourism industry holds. The possibilities presented by the age of renewable energy for the mining industry is the topic of another special feature and the CEO of Minerals Council South Africa responds to a set of questions on the state of mining in the country. South African Business is complemented by nine regional publications covering the business and investment environment in each of South Africa’s provinces.
A unique guide to business and investment in South Africa.
Welcome to the eighth edition of the South African Business journal. First published in 2011, the publication has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to South Africa. Regular pages cover all the main economic sectors of the South African economy and give a snapshot of each of the country’s provincial economies. A special feature focusses on the huge potential for growth and job creation which the tourism industry holds. The possibilities presented by the age of renewable energy for the mining industry is the topic of another special feature and the CEO of Minerals Council South Africa responds to a set of questions on the state of mining in the country. South African Business is complemented by nine regional publications covering the business and investment environment in each of South Africa’s provinces.
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OVERVIEW<br />
ICT<br />
Cloud services have come to <strong>South</strong> Africa.<br />
Cape Town and Johannesburg recently became the first<br />
<strong>South</strong> <strong>African</strong> cities to host Microsoft Azure data centres.<br />
Microsoft will make available cloud services for Office 365<br />
and Dynamics 365.<br />
Amazon Web Services (AWS) will set up a data centre in Cape Town<br />
in <strong>2020</strong> to serve Sub-Saharan Africa. The French government has officially<br />
designated the city as one of six global French Tech Hubs.<br />
The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) estimates that spending<br />
on cloud services in <strong>South</strong> Africa will reach R11.5-billion by 2022,<br />
nearly three times its level in 2017 (Tech Central). This trend could<br />
generate more than 100 000 new jobs. Acuity Consultants was quoted<br />
in 2019 as saying that software developers’ salaries had risen by 30% in<br />
a year (<strong>Business</strong> Times).<br />
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria<br />
will host a new body aimed at preparing <strong>South</strong> Africa for the Fourth<br />
Industrial Revolution (4IR), the <strong>South</strong> <strong>African</strong> Affiliate Centre of the World<br />
Economic Forum.<br />
Among the biggest investors in new technology are banks and other<br />
players in the financial sector, where technology is rapidly lowering the<br />
barriers to entry for new businesses.<br />
The Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) runs the SoftstartBTI<br />
ICT incubator in Midrand and Tuksnovation, a high-tech incubator, at<br />
Pretoria University. Several incentives relevant to companies and educational<br />
bodies in the ICT sector are available from the Department of<br />
Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic).<br />
The Information Technology Association (ITA) is the trade and employer<br />
body of the Information Technology industry in <strong>South</strong> Africa.<br />
The ITA represents more than 200 companies which supply information<br />
technology equipment, systems, software and services. Members include<br />
IBM, Microsoft SA, Siemens, SAP and Axiz.<br />
<strong>South</strong> Africa’s appetite for fast Internet connectivity is growing. The<br />
state-owned company Telkom controls most of the country’s fibre cable<br />
ONLINE RESOURCES<br />
Independent Communications Authority: www.icasa.org.za<br />
Information Technology Association of <strong>South</strong> Africa:<br />
www.ita.org.za<br />
State Information Technology Agency: www.sita.co.za<br />
Technology Innovation Agency: www.tia.org.za<br />
SECTOR INSIGHT<br />
IT skills are at a premium.<br />
but several smaller private companies<br />
are winning contracts to<br />
lay fibre-optic cables around the<br />
country.<br />
Allowing access to the Internet<br />
to rural people and poorer people<br />
in urban areas is a policy priority.<br />
As part of its mandate, the<br />
Independent Communications<br />
Authority of <strong>South</strong> Africa (ICASA)<br />
has organised that private operators<br />
have connected more than<br />
623 schools.<br />
Dark Fibre Africa, a Remgro<br />
subsidiary, has established a Digital<br />
Villages unit to roll out fibre in<br />
low-income areas. Another company<br />
in which Remgro has a stake,<br />
Vumatel, plans to offer uncapped<br />
broadband services in Alexandra<br />
(Johannesburg) for less than R100<br />
per month.<br />
Private mobile communications<br />
company Vodacom has pledged<br />
to spend R50-billion on network<br />
infrastructure in rural areas.<br />
Vodacom is also developing<br />
an affordable sheep-tracking<br />
collar with farmers in the Eastern<br />
Cape. There are 2 000 ICT firms<br />
in the Western Cape, with 17 000<br />
employees. The Cape Innovation<br />
and Technology Initiative<br />
(CiTi) supports startups and<br />
entrepreneurs.<br />
SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS <strong>2020</strong><br />
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