Towards the end of 2022, I had the great pleasure of officially launching the Cape Town Entrepreneurship Academy. This free online learning portal speaks to the City government’s ease-of-doing-business mission and has the potential of being a game-changing tool for aspiring and existing start-ups in Cape Town.

I mention the academy now because the start of a new year is an opportunity to take stock and plan for the year ahead. There is a difficult reality that we as South Africans must face: we’ve been through some tough times and it looks as if the year ahead will be another challenge.

Not only is international conflict continuing to affect food prices, but the ongoing domestic energy crisis is taking a toll on both businesses and individuals. Economic analysts now predict that the official growth forecasts for South Africa’s GDP in 2023 of 1,9% will likely be cut. Lower growth means fewer prospects of economic prosperity, which inevitably exacerbates existing social problems.

But I want to champion Cape Town. This sentiment extends throughout the City government. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has said, ‘Our motivating ambition is to show that it is possible to run a capable government in South Africa and for Cape Town to be regarded as a City of Hope’.

We put these words into action through the implementation of the Inclusive Economic Growth Strategy, an action plan seeking to expand on the successes of the City’s existing economic growth policies around investment, small business development and workforce expansion initiatives. This strategy details our various programmes - some in specific industries such as green energy, manufacturing, tourism, business process outsourcing and others channelled towards small businesses or informal traders - aimed at driving investment and jobs.

Besides the Entrepreneurship Academy, we host a series of workshops and courses geared towards SMMEs. We have developed the Jobs Connect platform that reduces the costs and stresses of looking for employment opportunities and we oversee training programmes that help unemployed Capetonians gain skills and experience in target industries.

Since launching in April 2021, Jobs Connect has assessed and added more than 66 000 people to its database. And through the Cape Skills and Employment Accelerator, which is funded primarily by the City and the National Skills Fund, we have trained thousands of previously disadvantaged individuals for work in call centres and the clothing and textile industry.

It is through such actions that Cape Town’s strict unemployment rate decreased to 26,8% in Q3 2022 from 30% in the previous quarter, the largest percentage drop of all the metros. The number of employed Capetonians increased by 41 000 to 1 539 000.

Our mission to create the foundations for growth – of both jobs and investment – is working.

In 2023, we will push ahead with such actions to further drive down that unemployment rate and create continued confidence in our local economy.

For updates on programmes, events or workshops, visit investcapetown.com.

Source: City Of Cape Town