'A place of more': Cape Town on the hunt for international investors

Cape Town is aiming to bounce back from its drought with the help of an international investment marketing campaign.

Dubbing the city and the Western Cape “a place of more”‚ the campaign is driven by a website full of messages based on a survey of international investor perceptions.

“This campaign was first conceived during the series of credit ratings downgrades‚ when our country’s investment brand was severely impacted on‚” said Solly Fourie‚ head of the Western Cape economic development and tourism department.

“The very severe drought experienced in the Western Cape‚ and the negative media coverage surrounding it‚ also weighed down heavily on our investment case globally.

"There are many opportunities for investment in the Cape‚ and we need to get the message out globally in the context of these shocks.”

The campaign’s main targets are its top six markets for investment: the US‚ China‚ UK‚ France‚ Netherlands and Germany. As well as thousands of words‚ dozens of videos and several international investment success stories‚ it is a direct link to Wesgro‚ the trade and tourism promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape.

Wesgro CEO Tim Harris said: “An investor confidence booklet has also been uploaded to provide key information visually‚ allowing anyone visiting the site to understand the opportunities in our province and country.”

Fourie’s deputy‚ Rashid Toefy‚ said research showed Cape Town needed to do more to convince investors that it offered “access to growing markets‚ ease of doing business‚ a growing economy‚ and world-class infrastructure”.

Lance Greyling‚ director of enterprise and investment at the City of Cape Town‚ said at Thursday’s launch: “Potential investors coming to Cape Town realise that this is a city that really works – the infrastructure is in place‚ we have reliable electricity‚ our water situation has improved and we are a resilient city that is responsive to your business needs.”

Economic opportunities MEC Alan Winde said the goal of the campaign was to show off the “enabling ecosystem” the Western Cape government had built for potential investors.

“Globally‚ we’ve seen a reduction in foreign direct investment‚ which means that investors are being more careful with their money‚” he said.

“We need to show that when they invest here‚ investors get more than Table Mountain and fantastic beaches — they get a full package of value‚ return on investment‚ world-class infrastructure and a wide range of skills.

“They get to be in the centre of the tech hub of Africa and a fast-growing green economy-and they get the mountain and the beaches as an added extra.”