Partial cross-post from: https://www.justinstanford.com/2009/10/more-silicon-cape/

Yesterday, myself and the team at 4Di Capital SA, Andrew and Erik, who together with Vinny and Laurie, are basically the entire interim steering committee for the Silicon Cape Initiative, met with the Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor. She wanted to see us to hear all about it, and find out what government could do to help.

We had an excellent meeting with her and her advisors, and with Premier Helen Zille who was also in attendance. The two of them agreed right up front that party politics had no place in the context of this initiative, which acts for the betterment of South Africa as a whole, and that a bi-partisan approach would be needed, which is very heartening.

The Minister is a very eloquent woman and had clearly already given the concept plenty of thought, as she proved to have a good grasp of what was at play and showed great enthusiasm. She mentioned how it aligned with her own vision of making a transition for our country into the global information economy. She is keen to find out how she can engage with her colleagues in national government to help us in first rapidly unblocking the regulatory obstacles that make it hard for the ecosystem to develop, and then looking at possible incentives to further grow it.

This is very encouraging, and she asked us to prepare a positioning paper on the opportunities and obstacles which she can show to various other Ministers, the Governor of the Reserve Bank, and other key players at a national level. It’s excellent to see such interest from government in what we have to say and to receive such support at these levels.

I’m so glad we can be opening these types of doors already, paving the way for the new steering committee to have the avenues to start bringing about the change and awareness that is needed to kick-start the Silicon Cape.

We’ve also already started hearing from some major overseas investors, who have heard about the initiative and are interested to know more. Some are already saying that if the environment and the incentives are right, they are ready to invest.