Western Cape Business 2018 edition

SPECIAL FEATURE

SPECIAL FEATURE Elsewhere in the province, boreholes are being dug but longer-term plans will have to worked out to deal with the problem. One idea being mooted in Cape Town is the creation of suburban underground reservoirs to collect stormwater from run-off. Tourism is a sector where the Western Cape has been strong for many years, but the current levels are providing a material boost to the economy in many parts of the province. Each region has its strengths and there is terrific diversity on offer. A new area of strength in the Western Cape is technology. France has officially designated the city as one of six global French Tech Hubs, together with the likes of San Francisco, Tel Aviv and New York. French Tech Labs was launched as a fintech incubator at Century City in 2016 and the British bank, Barclays Bank, has also invested in a fintech incubator in Cape Town, Rise. There are six other Rise sites around the world, including New York, Vilnius and Mumbai. The presence of French and British firms points to an interesting new reality which will soon come into force, namely Britain’s exit from the European Union. South Africa will need to renegotiate treaties with Britain as a free-standing nation and France has already signalled that it wants to start doing more business with and in South Africa. AfricArena 2017, a technology conference expressly designed to link African technology innovators with “international technology stalwarts”, was surely part of that drive, co-hosted as it was by La French Tech Cape Town and Silicon Cape. WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018 16

SPECIAL FEATURE The Western Cape stretches to the north along the Atlantic Ocean about 400km north of the provincial capital, Cape Town, to Plettenberg Bay in the east. Beaufort West on the N1 highway is the biggest town in interior. The province is very well served with infrastructure such as the N1 and N2 highways, and the N7 which services the West Coast. Three ports at Saldanha Bay, Cape Town and Mossel Bay serve different markets. Cape Town International Airport and George Airport see to air travel needs. Cape Town also hosts an oil refinery (Chevref) and a gas-to-liquids refinery at Mossel Bay run by the national oil company, PetroSA. Koeberg nuclear power station is South Africa’s only such power station. Wind and solar power are being installed rapidly across the province as South Africa tries to end its dependency on fossil fuels. The national parliament is located in Cape Town and there is a separate provincial legislature. Innovation As another article in this journal notes, innovation in the medical field involving diagnostics and medical devices is another growth area for the Cape economy. A truly remarkable piece of innovation has come out of the coastal town of Mossel Bay. The Times newspaper reported in October 2017 that fish skin, previously regarded as a waste product, is being used to make handbags and shoes. Ocean Hide also makes wallets and bowties. The company is part of Afrishore Fishing, and was formed in 2016 to try to avoid retrenching people when the global oil and gas industry slowed down. The company’s founders noted that with ostriches nearby and an existing leather tannery in Mossel Bay, the potential was there to start producing a leather-like product. Innovation is also taking place in the energy sector, especially in the green economy. Atlantis is being promoted as a green economy manufacturing hub and biogas and the use of waste for energy have huge potential. Economy Finance, business services and real estate combined contribute 28% to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Western Cape. The financial services and insurance sector are key components of the 17 WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018