As a new entrant to the ranking, Cape Town has overtaken both Johannesburg and Mauritius. This places Cape Town as the highest ranked city in South Africa and the sub-Saharan Africa region.
This is on the back of a recent report by PWC, which ranked Cape Town highest in Africa when benchmarked against 30 other global hubs across a series of 66 indicators relating to quality of life, economics and the tools - such as human capita, intellectual capital and city brand - needed to succeed in a changing world.
Cape Town Executive Mayor Patricia de Lille said: “This is a recognition of our efforts to position Cape Town as a forward-looking, globally competitive business city. The City of Cape Town is creating an enabling environment with well-run infrastructure and clean government that attracts investment and innovation to our shores. The City’s funding of Wesgro and other special purpose vehicles is a catalyst for sectors that are showing the best promise to attract investment, grow jobs and the economy. Cape Town knows the world owes us nothing and we have to work harder to make this great city even greater.”
Minister of Economic Opportunities, Alan Winde, added: “We have seen remarkable growth in the Western Cape finance sector in recent years as more companies choose to base themselves here. We attribute this to the work the Western Cape government, together with Wesgro, have put in to ensure that it is easier to do business here, including the establishment of the InvestSA One Stop Shop and the red tape reduction unit. The Western Cape is also home to several of the country’s top universities, ensuring that there is a pipeline of skills and talent. In addition, Cape Town has recently been identified as the tech hub of Africa, making it an attractive space to do business for fin-tech companies.”
Wesgro CEO, Tim Harris, concluded: “We are excited by this latest ranking, which confirms that Cape Town is quickly emerging as a financial capital on the African continent. Too often Cape Town and the Western Cape is viewed only as a leisure destination. This report confirms that we are so much more, and that we mean business! If you are a global investor, you should be considering the Cape now more than ever before."
Wesgro is Cape Town and the Western Cape's official Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, and receives its mandate and funding from the Western Cape Government's Department of Economic Development and Tourism and the City of Cape Town.
Issued by Wesgro Media Team, 14 September 2018