The City of Cape Town hosted the inaugural ‘Doing Business in Cape Town Summit’, this week. The event gathered business, government and industry leaders and held key discussions around shaping the future of economic growth in the metro.
The event also witnessed the unveiling of volume two of the Ease of Doing Business Index that tracked the time, cost and complexity of City processes across 10 critical indicators.
During the summit, the Economic Growth Directorate of the City of Cape Town hosted panel discussions, considering various topics related to the growing economy of Cape Town.
All in whole, the City has a multipronged approach, that includes partnership with stakeholders which is necessary, to obtain this goal.
At present, the City of Cape Town actions are a range of efforts, that begin from cutting red tape for big companies and leads towards making life easier for informal traders and small businesses via Ease of Doing Business Index.
The business summit also boosts tourism opportunities, funding Special Purpose Vehicles in key economic sectors, that have a Business Retention and Expansion Programme for industrial areas and property transactions.
Furthermore, the Jobs Connect and Word Readiness platforms, along with the green economy via the Alantis Special Economic Zone also contribute towards the economy of Cape Town.
Numerous delegates present at the marked their statement over several opinions, collectively on the topic included in the discussion. The major key points made by the speakers at the summit are:
- Member of the Mayoral Committee for Economic Growth – Alderman James Vos said that they have taken a holistic view of Cape Town’s economy and ensures that no sector or region is left behind. He added, “Our goal is to boost local manufacturing, invest in our workforce, and create jobs. This summit is not just about talk, it is about action and outcomes, that ensure us todo more together.”
- Co-founder of Bank Zero and the former CEO of First National Bank – Michael Jordaan stressed the need for fresh thinking in working towards growth. He said that he wants to give peopleknowledge about innovation which is one of the new ways of solving old problems.
- City Manager Lungelo Mbandazayo, shared major details of the new ‘We Mean Business Bill of Rights’ initiative. Referring to this, he said that the Bill of Rights outlines therights as business owners when engaging with City officials. “We commit to treating you fairly, courteously, providing consistent info about services, fees and timelines,” added Mbandazayo.
- Proceeding further, in a panel looking at the progress of the City’s Ease of Doing Business project, Director of Corporate Projects, Programmes, and Portfolio Management – Ben Petersnoted significant improvements of more streamlined way leave management system.
To which he said that in previous iterations, wayleave management applications took anything from 25 to 75 days. Since the adoption of the new system (in July), they saw that the current average is sitting at 14 days for approvals. The record is of one day. And they want to see it becoming a norm, to approve the wayleaves quicker.
- Also, the new Deputy Minister for Trade, Industry and Competition – Andrew Whitfield, specified the core task of the new national administration. He marked that their job as the Government of National Unity is to make it easier for businesses to grow and create jobs, for people to get jobs and for those people to keep them.
- In the second panel of the day, which was set up and expanded as a business in Cape Town CEO EO of CapeBPO – Cof CapeBPO – which is a – Clayton Williamswhichwhich isis Special Purpose Vehicle funded by the City, pointed out his organisation’s focus on skills development.
He marked that they consciously train and develop with the various partners within the communities because they are aware that the cost of transport for someone who is unemployed is high.
- During the final panel, Chairman of the Western Cape Property Development Forum – Deon van Zyl– Deon van Zyl summed up the ethos of the summit and sta and stated that they have got to dare to consider a vision and they have got to dare to draw that vision too.