President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Fourth South Africa Investment Conference which ended in Johannesburg on Thursday evening has been an outstanding success.
The one-day meeting was attended by 1 000 delegates including cabinet ministers as well as local and foreign investors.
After setting a target of R1.2 trillion at the inaugural conference in 2018, President Ramaphosa says they have now managed to raise 95% of the target they set four years ago.
“The 80 investment pledges at today’s conference come to a total of R332 billion. With the pledges, we have received today – and with cancellations and additions we have heard about from investors in previous conferences – we have now taken the total level of investment pledged at the four Investment Conferences to R1.14 trillion. With just one year left to go, we have now reached 95% of the ambitious target we set four years ago.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers closing address at 4th SA Investment Conference:
South Africa has thus far attracted over R200-billion in new investments at this year’s 4th South Africa Investment Conference in Sandton Johannesburg on Thursday.
Big businesses making investment pledges have also urged local companies to do the same. Some of the companies that have made pledges include Anglo American with R10-billion, Netflix R929-million, Afrigen has pledged R652-million and Isando with R140-million among others.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Discovery Adrian Gore says his company remains a perfect example of what benefits a company can get when they invest locally.
“The bulk of our capital investment is back in South Africa, although we are heavily expanding and the return on capital is excellent, the scale of the market is big and we are investing in the amount of 43 billion and up a year in new business and businesses in South Africa. The bank itself is a big investment. Our hope is that we can be globally successful we can be an example of what a South African company can do and we can illustrate very clearly that capital invested here has superior return,” says Gore.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Naspers, Phuti Dabengwa agrees.
“What is important is that South Africa has these entrepreneurs who are very capable of growing successful businesses and so we are very keen in supporting these entrepreneurs in South Africa to be able to scale. In addition to that, we are also looking at supporting our youth here in South Africa and we have set ourselves a target to ensure that by 2024, we are able to provide digital skilling and employment to ten thousand youth,” says Dabengwa.
Meanwhile, mining giant Anglo American re-affirmed its commitment to partner long-term with the government. The company pledged a further R10-billion at this year’s South Africa Investment Conference.
Its CEO Mark Cutifani says the funds will be used in new infrastructure development which can benefit communities.
“In terms of our capital commitment we made in 2018, we shed about R85 billion is what we would spend in a five-year period going forward. We’ve actually achieved that after four years, but very important and again the story is about people and investing in infrastructure. We have to be able to deliver returns to communities to our employees and make sure we are making a difference in their lives because if we are not we’re not a sustainable business,” Cutifani elaborates
American-based subscription streaming service Netflix committed R929-million to the South African filming industry. Netflix’s public policy director for Sub- Saharan Africa Shola Sanni says they are also on the lookout for locally produced productions.
“Netflix is a place to go to, to watch films TV series, documentaries, young famous and African, reality, so there is something for everyone on the Netflix service and it’s the same approach we take to production. We want to tell a good South Africa story wherever that story might be found,” says Sanni.
Government has attracted R270 billion so far in new investments:
