Statement by Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth

Yesterday, I joined the City’s Business Hub team for their activation at the Bandwidth Barn in Khayelitsha and our interactions with the small business owners who came out to engage with us and show why they are engines of opportunity in their community and beyond.

The Hub team was joined by 42 entrepreneurs from in and around Khayelitsha who needed assistance around supplier development, cutting red tape and other issues.

The venue was not unintentional, the Bandwidth Barn managed by Cape Innovation and Technology Institute (CiTi), provides a computer lab for the local community, and also teaches technology and business skills.

Through our business partners like CiTi, Business Associate, Productivity SA and Seda, we offer supplier development workshops showing people how to work with government, costing and pricing, and other necessary professional skills.

Through our dedicated team, we are an example of the local government putting its goal of being a Caring City into action. Besides fielding submitted queries, the Business Hub has a calendar of skills development workshops covering topics ranging from product pricing to tendering and business improvement strategies.

This is why Cape Town stands apart as a city that has laid a strong foundation for enterprise development. According to the Financial Times’ fDi Intelligence African Tech Ecosystems of the Future 2021 index, Cape Town was ranked the second best city on the continent for foreign direct investment strategy because it ‘displayed impressive initiative in creating the necessary infrastructure for a thriving tech ecosystem’.

My mission as Cape Town’s Economic Growth mayoral committee member is to get us to the number 1 ranking on that index. My mission is to continuously find ways to make life easier for businesses, giving them the freedom to innovate, develop, and employ more people.

Source: City Of Cape Town