ICT
Only connect ICT in South Africa is an exciting, vibrant and growing sector with plans in place for the largest tech hub on the continent Under the National Development Plan, the South African government intends the ICT sector to underpin the development of a dynamic and connected information society, and a vibrant knowledge economy that is inclusive and prosperous, by 2030. Plans include the biggest tech hub in Africa along with a coding and programming academy, plus co-working and co-creation spaces for youths and start-ups are also on the agenda. Government support for tech hubs, accelerators and small businesses offers a soft landing spot for inward investment and companies as well as encouraging innovation and growth in home-grown companies while a huge youth dividend across the whole continent offers enormous potential for growth.
“SA has really embraced tech hubs and accelerators. At the Innovation Hub in Pretoria we help young entrepreneurs initialise, pilot and commercialise ideas. Tech hubs are also being rolled out to townships to enable the economies to grow. E-commerce and smart cities are really developing, helping SA to transition to a knowledge economy. As a growing economy there is a lot of space and opportunity to do business in SA.”
Tsepho Thlaku, Entrepreneur and CEO Pulego Communications
“SA has played a leading role in driving digital solutions for Africa and the world. These include global payment platforms such as Postilion, mobile payment solutions like Mobile Money and Scada solutions for engineering automation like Adroit. A number of South Africans have also been global innovation leaders in this field, including Elon Musk. I’ve participated in and presented at many telecom, fin tech, startup and innovation conferences. These include Africacom, the ITU conference, extensia and Responsible Business conferences. We see rapid growth in the development, rollout and adoption of digital technologies as well as growing levels of investment and revenue. The start-up community is particularly active with South Africa hosting the largest start-up investments in Africa.” 2016 JCI Africa and the Middle East Conference: Junior Chamber International (JCI) South Africa hosted the 2016 JCI Africa and the Middle East Conference in May 2016 at the Sandton Convention Centre with 530 young active citizens and stakeholders from 44 countries. Workshops, official General Assembly meetings, JCI Programs, forums, trainings and fun-filled events made an action-packed programme. JCI South Africa secured 16 partners in the government and private sector to deliver the event and give delegates an everlasting SA experience. Testament to the event’s success is the invitation to bid for the 2021 JCI World Congress, which brings 3,500-8,000 delegates from across the world.
Herman Singh, Business Process Engineer
x | OCTOBER 2019 | SOUTH AFRICA
www.businessevents.southafrica.net
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