City serious about ‘doing business with ease’

This week, the City hosted its inaugural Doing Business in Cape Town Summit, gathering business, government, and industry leaders for key discussions around shaping the future of economic growth in the metro. The event also saw the unveiling of volume two of the Ease of Doing Business Index which tracks the time, costs and complexity of City processes across 10 critical indicators. Watch the full summit here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ITZY9ji_CU

During the summit, the City of Cape Town’s Economic Growth Directorate hosted panel discussions on various topics related to growing Cape Town’s economy.

Overall, the City has a multipronged approach, which includes collaborating with stakeholders where necessary, to obtain this goal.

Currently the City actions a range of efforts, from cutting red tape for big companies to making life easier for informal traders and small businesses through the Ease of Doing Business Index. It also includes boosting tourism opportunities, funding Special Purpose Vehicles in key economic sectors, having a Business Retention and Expansion Programme for industrial areas and property transactions. The Jobs Connect and Work Readiness platforms, as well as the green economy via the Atlantis Special Economic Zone also contribute to Cape Town’s economy.

In summary, these are snapshots of some key points made by the speakers at the summit:

Alderman James Vos, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, said:

‘We’ve taken a holistic view of Cape Town’s economy, ensuring that no sector or region is left behind. Our goal is to boost local manufacturing, invest in our workforce, and create jobs. This summit is not just about talk, it’s about action and outcomes, ensuring we do more together. (Speech starts at 46:14 in the video).

Michael Jordaan, the co-founder of Bank Zero and the former CEO of First National Bank, stressed the need for fresh thinking in working towards growth. He said:

‘The message I want to give you is about innovation (which) is just new ways of solving old problems.’ (Speech starts at 1:04:09)

City Manager, Lungelo Mbandazayo, shared details of the new ‘We Mean Business Bill of Rights’ initiative. He said:

‘The Bill of Rights outlines your rights as business owners when engaging with City officials. We commit to treating you fairly, courteously, providing consistent info about services, fees and timelines.  (Speech starts at 1:23:00)

In a panel looking at the progress of the City’s Ease of Doing Business project, Ben Peters, Director of Corporate Projects, Programmes, and Portfolio Management, noted the significant improvements of a more streamlined wayleave management system. He said:

‘In previous iterations, wayleave management applications took anything from 25 to 75 days. Since the adoption of the new system (in July), we see that the current average is sitting at 14 days for approvals. Our record is one day. And we want to see that become the norm, to (approve) those wayleaves quicker.’ (Panel starts at 1:33:52)

New Deputy Minister for Trade, Industry and Competition, Andrew Whitfield, specified the core task of the new national administration. He said:

‘Our 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 those jobs.’ (Speech starts at 3:34:10)

In the day’s second panel around setting up and expanding a business in Cape Town Clayton Williams, CEO of CapeBPO, a Special Purpose Vehicle funded by the City, pointed out his organisation’s focus on skills development. He said:

‘We consciously train and develop with our various partners within the communities because we’re aware that the cost of transport for someone who’s unemployed is high.’ (Speech starts at 3:47:35)

During the final panel, Deon van Zyl, chairman of the Western Cape Property Development Forum, summed up the ethos of the summit. He said:

‘We’ve got to dare to have a vision and we’ve got to dare to draw the vision.’ (Speech starts at 4:39:38)

The City thanks all summit participants and looks forward to working with stakeholders to drive Cape Town forward.

For Alderman Vos’s full speech, see capetown.gov.za/Media-and-news/Doing Business in Cape Town Summit Speech.

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