City’s Ease of Doing Business index shows real improvement across indicators

The City of Cape Town this week took to the stage at the Western Cape Investment Summit to share updates from its newly released Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) Index. Read more below:

‘It has been my privilege to drive this initiative in partnership with senior City officials across departments, who have worked tirelessly to streamline processes and deliver tangible improvements for businesses. Together, this cross-departmental team is making it easier for entrepreneurs and investors to get things done in Cape Town,’ said Alderman James Vos, the Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth.

Now in its third volume, the Index measures ten key business-facing indicators, including land use rights, building plan approvals, wayleaves, energy connections, and business licences, by assessing the number of procedural steps, timelines, and costs involved.

‘In a World Bank report released earlier this year, it was noted that cities should be made engines of inclusive growth to shrink economic distances and provide opportunities for all. This Ease of Doing Business initiative has become an essential tool for the City of Cape Town to simplify processes that can feel like quicksand for entrepreneurs, start-ups, and corporations wanting to grow and invest,’ said Alderman Vos.

First conceptualised in April 2022, the EoDB Index not only captures process duration and complexity, but also identifies where reforms are most urgently needed to support competitiveness and inclusive growth. These insights directly inform the City’s reform programme, which focuses on implementing practical solutions. Two examples of this systemic improvement were the launches of the online Wayleave Management System and Energy Services Platform to streamline applications. As a result, the wayleaves indicator shows that applications now take an average of six days, down 34 days from the baseline of 40 days. This shows a performance improvement of 85%.

‘Overall, we’ve seen an improvement of 15% across indicators in the 2024/2025 financial year since tracking began in 2022. As readers of the Index will see, there are still areas where we need to step up our game. But that’s exactly the point of this tool: to be transparent, identify bottlenecks, and then get on with fixing them. The EoDB Index underscores our collective efforts and commitment to continuous improvement,’ said Alderman Vos.

To see a breakdown of performance across the ten indicators, go to Dashboard.InvestCapeTown.com. Flip through the full Ease of Doing Business 2025 publication here.