THRIVING IN A NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the local economy has been significant. From the devastation to the tourism and hospitality sector, to job losses, to diminishing economic demand, no aspect of the economy has been unaffected since March 2020. But within this devastation, we have increasingly witnessed not only a demonstration of incredible resilience, but an ability to adapt – and at times, thrive – in this new global economic order. We have seen unprecedented levels of innovation, transformation, and best practice by local businesses over the past year as they pioneered new ways of doing things better, both for now and the future. One of the most significant outcomes of the pandemic has been the impact on innovation on a global scale, with technology playing an increasingly key role in enabling organisations to respond to disruption. What is evident is that the organisations which have successfully survived the months since March 2020 are those that had already embraced automation, digitisation, big data, and the use of collaboration platforms prior to the onset of the pandemic. This speaks directly to several companies in our city and province: the region attracted significant investment in the DigiTech space over the past 12 months despite exceptionally tough global business conditions, thanks to its worldclass, well-established, and globally competitive tech ecosystem. We have also seen tremendous development in the renewable
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energy sector as the region successfully positions itself as a knowledge hub for technologies and advancements in greener economy operations. Local government’s commitment to the Municipal Energy Resilience Project, which in essence will ultimately allow local municipalities to take advantage of the new energy resilience regulations to generate, procure and sell their own power and thereby become more energy secure, is a significantly positive development. We at Wesgro continue to provide virtual support to our stakeholders and partners, with several of our units successfully migrating their offerings to virtual platforms. Our Export Unit has successfully led virtual missions to market since May 2020, with its dedicated Export Advancement Programme training available online. Further, reviving the local tourism sector is a critical priority, which we along with our partners, the City of Cape Town and Cape Town Tourism, hope to
STATE OF CAPE TOWN CENTRAL CITY REPORT 2020
TIM HARRIS CEO: Wesgro
achieve through a number of local initiatives, including the Digital Nomad initiative, which aims to encourage domestic (and ultimately international) audiences to consider Cape Town as a remote working destination. The recent short-listing of Cape Town as one of the “best cities for remote working” in early 2021 is a further win for the local tourism and hospitality industry, with the reality today being that technology traverses all geographical borders. None of this would have been possible were it not for the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) and its partners’ commitment to ensuring that our city centre remains a world-class CBD. We thank you for your unfaltering commitment to this. While tough times undoubtedly still lie ahead and uncertainties remain, Cape Town and the Western Cape are well placed to take advantage of this new global order. We need to come back smarter, more innovative, more resilient, greener, and more inclusive.
