Western Cape Business 2020 edition

SPECIAL FEATURE
Amazon Web Services (AWS) will set up a data
centre in Cape Town in 2020 to serve Sub-Saharan
Africa. Microsoft Azure data centres have been
launched in Cape Town and Johannesburg. There
are 2 000 ICT firms in the Western Cape, and they
have 17 000 employees.
Encouraging investment in Cape Town has
been recognised as something that needs a fulltime
office and a strategy. Invest Cape Town is an
agency of the city that works to create the best
possible conditions to attract investors. Areas of
focus include broadband access, energy security,
the reduction of red tape and improving air access
to the city.
The province has a dedicated investment
agency, Wesgro, which also serves the City of
Cape Town. The Investment Promotion Unit of
Wesgro has been working with various regions
within the Western Cape to attract investment and
accelerate exports. Seminars have been held in the
Cape Winelands, the West Coast and the Garden
Route. In the decade to 2015, the Garden Route’s
economy grew at an average rate of 4.8% and total
exports (about R2-billion) expanded by 45% in the
same period.
Key sectors are agri-processing, aviation,
business services, education and training, financial
services, real estate, ICT, light manufacturing, oil
15 WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2020