Statement by the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, Alderman James Vos
Recently, I had the opportunity to share the work done by one of the City’s Strategic Business Partners, Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative (CiTi), with the French Consul General, Laurent Alberti. This visit is significant as France is known to share a similar interest in tech incubation initiatives. Over three years,1 726 people have been trained through City-funded programmes, facilitated by CiTi.
Together, we visited CapaCiTi Campus and the Khayelitsha Bandwidth Barn to explore future collaboration.
The partnership between the City of Cape Town and CiTi aims to facilitate training, skills development and business development for the ICT industry.
Information communications technology (ICT) is not only one of the fastest growing industries, creating millions of jobs directly, but it is also a fundamental enabler of innovation and development.
Cape Town is the tech-capital of Africa and this sector employs more than 40 000 people in Cape Town. Through the City’s Enterprise and Investment Department, we fund training programmes to ensure that companies have access to the skilled workforce they need to succeed and expand.
The City’s Enterprise and Investment Department has provided funding support to CiTi, and in return, has helped with the training of thousands of young beneficiaries. In the last three months of 2020, 263 permanent jobs were created and 50 young people were trained through this partnership.
The students are taught skills in Front End Web Development, Search Engine Optimisation, coding in Java, JavaScript and Python and Cloud Architecture, alongside career critical skills such as communication, problem solving and work-readiness skills.
By funding and collaborating with our SBPs, like CiTi, we can ensure the skills pipelines are in place to grow business, our economy and ultimately, to facilitate the right conditions for job creation.

Source: City Of Cape Town