{"id":810243,"date":"2025-02-08T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=810243"},"modified":"2025-02-07T15:32:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T13:32:19","slug":"two-south-african-cities-emerging-as-a-new-silicon-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/810243\/two-south-african-cities-emerging-as-a-new-silicon-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Two South African cities emerging as a ‘new Silicon Valley’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cape Town and Johannesburg are rapidly positioning themselves as Africa’s Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to New World Wealth, a Sandton-based wealth intelligence firm, and Shaun Richards, founder and CEO of local software developer Platform45, these two South African cities are emerging as key players in the continent’s tech revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richards believes <\/a>that technology is not just redefining traditional tech hubs but also fostering the rise of new ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Nairobi in Kenya are at the forefront of this transformation, opening up new opportunities for innovation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “Africa Wealth Report 2024” predicts a 65% increase in Africa’s millionaire population over the next decade, driven by growth in sectors like fintech, software development, and green tech. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape Town dubbed the “leading light in Africa\u2019s fintech space,” is experiencing a significant influx of tech entrepreneurs from across the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city is home to notable tech companies such as Yoco and Takealot.com, underscoring its status as a thriving tech hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, Johannesburg serves as the headquarters for many companies listed in the JSE Top 40.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city excels in IT infrastructure, tech support, and software development, with Sandton and Rosebank emerging as hotspots for tech startups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These business nodes attract local talent and foster an environment conducive to innovation and growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of last year, The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) gazetted<\/a> the remote work visitor visa and the new points-based system for work visas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe gazetting of all required elements for the remote work visitor visa and the new points-based system for work visas amounts to the most progressive and pro-jobs\u00a0regulatory\u00a0reform South Africa has seen in decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the department, the remote work visa enables highly-paid individuals who are employed abroad and thus do not compete with local workers to spend their valuable foreign currency in South Africa, pay value-added tax into the local fiscus, and buy South African goods and services from local producers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These highly paid individuals include those in the tech space, which has a substantial impact on South Africa’s economy.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Cape Town City<\/em>
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth, notes that technology is one of the country’s key sectors for wealth creation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, around 8% of South African wealth stems from the tech sector, a figure projected to exceed 30% by 2045.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of wealth distribution, Johannesburg boasted over 800 tech US dollar millionaires as of December, while Cape Town had more than 450. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This millionaire population is expected to grow significantly as both cities continue to attract tech entrepreneurs and investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, Former Gauteng Premier David Makhura committed<\/a> to turning the province into a technological hub in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His vision includes expanding the Gauteng Innovation Hub, which forms a robust innovation ecosystem with public universities, research institutes, private sector innovation centres, and eKasi Labs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal was to “evolve Gauteng into Africa’s Silicon Valley,” spearheading the growth of the digital economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape Town’s appeal to digital nomads adds another layer to its tech-friendly ecosystem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demand for remote work opportunities, particularly in the tech sector, remains strong despite an overall decline in work-from-home roles across South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With government support, a growing number of tech millionaires, and high demand for tech talent, Cape Town and Johannesburg are on track to become Africa\u2019s version of Silicon Valley. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collaboration between public policies and private initiatives continues to strengthen South Africa’s position on the global tech map, attracting talent and investment from around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sandton City, Johannesburg. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two South African cities are rapidly positioning themselves as Africa’s Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":810274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[2279,1996,21635,927,853],"class_list":["post-810243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-cape-town","tag-johannesburg","tag-platform45","tag-silicon-valley","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810243"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":810321,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810243\/revisions\/810321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}