identified as a crucial element of the Western Cape’s trade strategy as it moves forward with plans to establish Cape Town as Africa’s main business hub.
“We are increasingly opting for real collaboration with real financial contributions,” said Tim Harris, CEO of the Western Cape’s official trade and investment agency, Wesgro, during the agency’s annual review in Cape Town last week.
“You have to have all three spheres of government involved along with the business sector and civil society. Integral to that it has to be a funded collaboration.” Harris said collaboration was evident in the phenomenal success of the Cape’s air access project which had contributed 13 new direct routes to Cape Town and 18 route expansions since July 2015.
“While this has generated an estimated R6 billion for the province in tourism spending, the bigger – and mostly untold – success of this collaborative project has been the impact on exports in this province.” Harris said growth of 52% had been seen in airfreight exports as a result of the increased belly space in planes and the additional destinations being serviced.
“This project, initially intended to boost tourism, has now resulted in us being a much more viable business and investment hub. It has promoted trade and is driving our exports,” he said. Involving agencies from all three spheres of government, state-owned enterprises, and the private sector, the air access project was proof of what could be achieved through collaboration, said Harris.
Another important factor of collaboration was the ability to address red tape and address challenges faster. This ultimately resulted in more efficiency overall.
“Working together we achieve far more,” he said. With this in mind the agency had launched a confidence campaign, said Harris, which allowed for various organisations in national, provincial and local government as well as business to drive the conversation around the opportunities for economic investment in the province.
Aimed at the international investor market, with the tagline ‘a place of more’, the campaign allows for the many opportunities for investment in the Cape to be showcased.
“The key objective of this marketing campaign is to instil confidence in the economy of the Cape and South Africa internationally,” said Harris.
We are increasingly opting for real collaboration with real financial contributions. – Tim Harris
