“We have to make it easier to invest, and that requires changes in national government policy. But we’re using every opportunity we can to make those changes locally, and we’ve created a much more conducive environment,” says Helen Zille, Premier of Western Cape.
“Long-term confidence is the heart of an economy,” says Helen Zille, Premier of Western Cape.
“The Western Cape is number one on every single indicator, including economic growth, and including employment. So we do rank number one, and it’s because we’ve put an enormous effort into building a capable state,” says Helen Zille, Premier of Western Cape.
“We’re also the best prepared city in Africa for the global business environment. That is because we’ve put an enormous amount of investment into preparing for the knowledge economy of the 21st century,” says Helen Zille, Premier of Western Cape.
“Perhaps I should say that it started off with a red tape reduction team, but their name has actually changed now and they are called the ease of doing business team,” says Alan Winde, Minister of Economic Opportunities of Western Cape.
“Firstly it is about good governance and that has been the focus for the first term of our government. We need to make sure that government is trusted and that government is doing what it is supposed to be doing, spending its money in the right place etc.,” says Alan Winde, Minister of Economic Opportunities of Western Cape.
“Our strategy is to go into these markets and highlight these higher-tier wines, showing the unique styles and varietals we have to offer,” says Siobhan Thompson, CEO of Wines of South Africa (WOSA).
“Exports actually spiked in 2013 because South Africa had a lot of wine to offer the world at a time when it had low supplies due to various factors such as droughts and fires,” explains Siobhan Thompson, CEO of Wines of South Africa (WOSA).
“I think the government’s biggest challenge is going to be funding it adequately. Do we have the tax base in this country to fund such a program?” asks Dr Kit Vaughan, CEO of CapeRay.
“There are people with good ideas; here in the Western Cape we have four institutions of higher learning, each of which has an engineering faculty and two of them have medical faculties and so in the medical device space there is every opportunity for new products to be developed,” says Dr Kit Vaughan, CEO of CapeRay.
