10 multinationals choosing South Africa

10 multinationals choosing South Africa

By Fiona Wakelin

1. AMAZON

Amazon, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is one of the world’s largest tech companies – in 1 year, US sellers have sold more than 3.8 billion products, averaging 7 400 products sold every minute.

In 2015, Amazon opened its first Amazon Web Services (AWS) office in Johannesburg “to support the growth of the cloud computing business and its rapidly expanding customer base in the country.”

Africa (Cape Town) is the 23rd AWS Region, and the first one in Africa.

Amazon’s Climate Pledge “We believe we have an obligation to stop climate change, and reducing

carbon emission to zero will have a big impact. We want to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Climate Agreement, and we are on a path to powering our operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025 as part of our goal to reach net-zero carbon.”

Amazon’s new 10-megawatt solar plant is up and running in the Northern Cape. The plant is expected to generate up to 28 000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of renewable energy per year, which equals the annual electricity consumption of over 8 000 average South African homes.

The solar plant consists of over 24 000 bifacial solar panels - capturing sunlight on both sides - covering an

area of 20 hectares. The solar panels track the sun throughout the day, absorbing solar energy from the sky and reflected light from the ground. The design will result in avoiding an estimated 25 000 tons of carbon emissions annually, the equivalent of removing 5 400 cars from the road in South Africa.

“Amazon is committed to working with governments and utility suppliers around the world to help bring more renewable energy projects online,” said Nat Sahlstrom, Director of Energy at Amazon Web Services.

“We’re honoured to work with the Department of Minerals and Energy, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, and Eskom to help deliver a new model for renewable energy generation in South Africa.”

The solar plant, which contributes to South Africa’s 2030 renewable energy goals, is majority-owned by black women and operated by a fully South African-owned company.

2. FACEBOOK

Facebook opened its first headquarters in Johannesburg in 2015, looking to grow markets, not only here, but in Kenya and Nigeria.

At Connect 2021, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced Meta, which brought apps and technologies together under one new company brand. Meta’s focus will be “to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses”.

Some stats: Meta products empower more than 3 billion people around the world to share ideas, offer support and make a difference.

$6-billion+ has been raised by the Meta community to support the causes they care about.

200 million+ businesses use Meta apps to connect with customers and grow

140 billion+ messages are shared every day.

For reels Watching videos accounts for half the time spent on Facebook and Instagram and in February 2022 Meta expanded the availability of Facebook Reels for iOS and Android to more than 20

countries across sub-Saharan Africa – including South Africa. The company is also introducing new ways to help creators to earn money, new creation tools and more places to watch and create Facebook Reels.

Commenting on the launch in Johannesburg Nunu Ntshingila, Regional Director for sub-Saharan Africa at Meta said, “We’ve seen that video now accounts for almost all of the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram, and Reels is our fastest growing content format by far. This is why we’re focused on making Reels the best way for creators to get discovered, connect with their audience, and earn money. We also want to make it fun and easy for people to find and share relevant and entertaining content.” - Gadget

Future plans In addition to the reels features announced last year, creators around the world will be able to access:

Remix: Create reels alongside an existing, publicly-shared reel on Facebook. When you create a Remix, you can create a reel that includes all or part of another creator’s reel.

60-second reels: Make reels up to 60 seconds long.

Drafts: You will soon be able to createa reel and choose to “Save As Draft” below the Save button.

Video clipping: Meta will be rolling out video clipping tools that will make it easier for creators who publish live or long-form, recorded videos to test different formats.

3. GOOGLE

Google LLC is a global technology company, founded in 1998, when Larry Page and Sergey Brin built a search engine that used links to determine the importance of individual pages on the World Wide Web. Currently the CEO is Sundar Pichai.

Today, the company employs approximately 176 000 people around the world and makes hundreds of products used by billions of people across the globe, from YouTube and Android to Gmail and Google Search. Its mission is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google’s parent company Alphabet, reported Q2 2022 earnings of $69.7-billion in revenue, a 13% increase year-on-year.

Google South Africa Google established a country office in South Africa in 2007, as part of its focus on Africa. Google South Africa employs over 60 people, and its headquarters are based in Johannesburg. Dr Alistair Mokoena has served as the Country Director for Google South Africa since 2020.

Google’s mission in South Africa is to make the internet helpful to South Africans, and work together with its government, policymakers, educators, entrepreneurs, and businesses to shape the next wave of innovation in the country and on the African continent.

In February 2022, Google held its Google for South Africa event which outlined its priorities and commitments for the country going forward. These commitments included support for startups, SMMEs and non-profits to accelerate digital transformation and to help the South African economy recover.

Some of the announcements included: The Google for Startups Black Founders Fund has selected 50 top black-led technology startups locally and across the continent to join the programme which included Carry1st in South Africa. Google is part of a group of investors in the business, one of Africa’s leading mobile games publishers. Carry1st will use the additional capital to expand its content portfolio; grow its product, engineering, and growth teams; and acquire new users. The latest

cohort will be expanded to include 60 black-led businesses on the continent. In partnership with the Department of Small Business Development, Google aims to provide support, training and resources to these small enterprises through the newly launched ‘Hustle Academy’ (g.co/hustleacademy) a sub-Saharan African initiative aimed at supporting SMMEs and helping their businesses thrive.

Google has also committed to skills development on the continent - training more than 6 million people in digital skills. Additionally, Google has committed to certifying 100 000 developers and has certified over 80 000 of these so far.

4. JOHNSON & JOHNSON

Johnson & Johnson’s business model is based on the belief that good health is the foundation of vibrant lives, thriving communities and forward progress. They have been operating on that principle for more than 130 years, aiming to keep people well at every age and every stage of life. As the world’s largest and most broadly based healthcare company, they are committed to using their reach and size for good, striving to improve access and affordability, create healthier communities, and putting a healthy mind, body and environment within reach of everyone.

“Every day, our more than 130 000 employees across the world are blending heart, science and ingenuity to profoundly change the trajectory of health for humanity” – Johnson & Johnson.

Johnson & Johnson first opened its doors in South Africa in 1930, and in the more than 90 years since, the company has remained committed to helping address global public health needs that have impacted the country and the region as a whole. This kind of long-lasting promise to serving communities is at the root of the company’s mission statement— and it’s what drives Alex Gorsky, Johnson & Johnson Executive Chairman:

“We’re proud to be operating today in South Africa, which is a vitally important market and centre of hope and progress unfolding across the continent. It’s why South Africa is the hub for our work across sub-Saharan Africa, as well as home to our Global Public Health Organisation’s Operations Centre, which opened in 2016.

“And we’re positioned well for that future growth, with almost 1 000 South African employees. Johnson & Johnson has always championed the integral role women play in fuelling the future of human health, so I am proud that more than half of our employees in South Africa are female,” - Alex Gorsky

5. KELLOGG SA

The Kellogg Company, known as Kellogg’s, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. In 1894 WK Kellogg created the breakfast cereal Kellogg’s R Corn Flakes and began their journey in South Africa in 1923 when the first cereals were sold. The initial cereals manufacturing facility in Springs, Gauteng, was opened in 1948.

In South Africa, we have Women of Kellogg which supports the company’s efforts to be an organisation where all women learn, grow, lead, and succeed.

“Kellogg is a food company that not only invests in its people but in our food products and we continuously innovate. We not only manufacture, market and sell our products but we also provide employment and create further opportunities through our learnership and intern programmes. Through our South African manufacturing facilities, we export our food products to Africa. We source 70% of our raw materials for our cereal business locally and 98% products are produced locally.

We are committed to environmental and social economic objectives. We are a responsible corporate citizen and through various initiatives we support our communities. We are a company with heart and soul and through our Better Days programme we feed people in need,” - Dana Smith, Head of HR Corporate for Kellogg SA

6. MICROSOFT

Microsoft launched its first Africa Development Centre (ADC) in 2019 and opened Africa’s first hyper-scale data centres in South Africa.

“Microsoft invested in local data centres to provide the backbone for South Africa’s cloud computing, data, and network services. Our enterprise-grade data centre regions were opened in Cape Town and Johannesburg in March 2019.

“Linking Microsoft’s global cloud infrastructure to Africa connects businesses to opportunities across the globe, helps accelerate new investments, and improves access to cloud and internet services for people and organisations from Cairo to Cape Town. The local adoption of cloud services has significant potential for job creation as organisations focus on innovation and building their digital businesses at scale.

“Launched in June 2020, Microsoft’s Global Skills Initiative offers immediate steps to help people looking to reskill so they can embark on a new career path or pursue an in-demand job. Existing and new courses from LinkedIn, Microsoft, and GitHub are broadly available to South African job seekers and NGOs. Through this programme, we have already reached over 300 000 South Africans. A cash grants for approximately R2.5-million was allocated to local NPO Afrika Tikkun, as part of a strategic partnership to reach more South Africans through our Global Skills Initiative.

“We extended the Global Skilling Initiative to the end of 2021, and announced a partnership with PSETA (Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority) and Afrika Tikkun to provide at least 20 000 young people with critical digital skills and improve employability of the country’s youth in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry.

“Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can have a profound impact in ensuring economic growth of national economies – they represent about 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide. Formal SMEs contribute up to 40% of national income (GDP) in emerging economies, and these numbers rise significantly if we include informal SMEs.

“Transforming South Africa’s economy to become more inclusive and stimulate sustainable growth requires the development of black-owned enterprises. This isparticularly crucial to creating a dynamic environment, as small businesses are a drivingforce for economic growth. Microsoft’s enterprise and supplier development initiative, the Emerging Partner programme, has provided over 100 fully black-owned small and medium-sized ICT businesses with accreditation training across three cloud solutions, funded their access to market journeys, and provided bespoke business development support.

“It’s estimated that 600 million jobs will be needed by 2030 to absorb the growing global workforce, which makes SME development a high priority for many governments. In emerging markets, most formal jobs are generated by SMEs, which create 7 out of 10 jobs,” – CEO, Microsoft SA, Lillian Barnard

7. PANASONIC

"Panasonic" comes from the root words “Pan,” meaning universal, and “Sonic,” referring to sound. It’s a word that refers to the company’s goal of “bringing our sound to customers around the world.” Globally the company employs more than 240 000 people. On July 12, 2018 Panasonic South Africa (Pty) Ltd, a local subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation, announced it had celebrated the inception of a new business office in Cape Town.

“Today, global environmental problems, including climate change, are the world’s top-priority issues that require urgent solutions. We at Panasonic are determined to unite our Group-wide efforts to squarely address these issues. Furthermore, we will devote ourselves to improving the well-being of individual people in society by helping them to pursue their own happiness, in both physical and mental health, and thus live their lives with peace of mind and comfort. Therefore, we have decided to release our new corporate message that encapsulates these aims.

Live Your Best “Under this banner, we will always think out the ideal state and conduct our business activities toward this end. At the same time, we will also work to improve our value-creating capabilities, as well as

operational capabilities at the business frontlines, on a daily basis so that we will be chosen by our customers going forward. Through these endeavours, Panasonic will offer customers products and services of superior quality that surpass their expectations.” - Yuki Kusumi, CEO of the Panasonic Group

8. UNILEVER

Unilever employs more than 148 000 people across the world, with over 400 brand names in 190 countries, and is a “global company with a global purpose”. Founded in 1883 by William Lever with the launch of Sunlight Soap – “it was pioneering, it was innovative and it had a purpose: to popularise cleanliness and bring it within reach of ordinary people. That was sustainable living, even then. We now have over 400 brands and we are still driven by purpose.”

Every year, hundreds of experts from around the world take part in the GlobeScan SustainAbility Leaders Survey.

Drawn from academia, the corporate sector, governments, media and NGOs, 718 sustainability experts from 73 countries are asked to name the three companies that they feel are showing the greatest commitment to integrating sustainability into their business strategies.

In 2022, for the 11th consecutive year, Unilever achieved the top spot. “And we’re in great company, with fellow leaders Patagonia, IKEA, Natura & Co, Microsoft, Interface, Ørsted, Tesla, Danone and Google making up the top 10.”

William Lever registered the Sunlight trademark in South Africa (SA) – hence on the Unilever website you will find the following:

Unilever South Africa: 90 + years of Doing Good.

9. VODAFONE

Vodacom is majority-owned by Vodafone (60.5% holding), one of the world’s largest communications companies by revenue.

“Through Vodafone’s three purpose pillars: Digital society; Inclusion for all; and Planet, the company aims to positively transform lives, drive a better digital future and reduce our environmental impact. We believe in a connected digital society, that the opportunities and promise of a better digital future should be accessible to all, and that business success should not come at a cost to the evironment,” – Vodacom.

Vodacom’s head office is in Johannesburg, and operations include mobile networks in Tanzania, the

Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Lesotho and Kenya. The organisation offers a wide range of communication services, including data, mobile and fixed voice, messaging, financial services, Enterprise IT, and converged services to 130 million customers (including Safaricom). Through Vodacom Business Africa (VBA), Vodacom offers business-managed services to large, medium and small enterprises in 48 countries.

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub is Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Vodacom Group.

10. ZOOM

During the pandemic, “zooming” took on added significance – previously it had primarily been associated with photography or focusing on something –

but in 2020, Zoom literally became a household word.

We spoke to Abe Smith, Head of International, Zoom Video:

With your experience of scaling operations in Asia and Latin America, what is your view on Africa’s readiness for technological innovation?

“I have been interested in Africa’s technology landscape for over a decade, and this is the final frontier. The opportunity within the region is massive, but you have to be very precise when you develop into the continent. Over time and with consideration you need to figure out how to best build intelligently and intentionally as it is a very technically advanced continent. There is lots of organic interest in the product which has created spirited interest from the company internally to pursue it. Because of this innovative drive, we hope businesses within the region take advantage of our Zoom App fund as we’d love to invest in companies in the region whose mission is to make communications more engaging, productive and effective,” – Abe Smith •

Sources Vodacom | Unilever | Facebook | Panasonic | Amazon | Zoom Johnson & Johnson | Kellogg