I was reading an article in Fin24 today, and it highlighted to me how important it is to understand what Silicon Cape is, and equally what it is not. Credit belongs to the tireless efforts of countless entrepreneurs & investors with success stories & failures alike, over the many years in the Western Cape. These are the true heroes of the Silicon Cape. The Silicon Cape Initiative is a project which is owned by the community, for the community. No one single person or group of individuals should ever claim credit for it’s establishment. It’s a movement, a mindset, a vision and a belief.

Luckily, it’s also a clean slate for everyone – forget the failures of the past to formalize this region – let’s unify our efforts to focus this region into a successful technology hub – we need to enable entrepreneurs to succeed and investors to make above market returns – it’s that simple, yet also that difficult too.

Silicon Cape is not about ego’s or politics. Instead, it’s really about those who care to see a brighter day in South Africa, and that brighter day starts with a land filled with starry eyed, bright young kids (& adults!) who dream of a better future for themselves and are willing to work hard to achieve success in their endeavors. It’s about giving these people the best chance to succeed with access to the right people, structures and most importantly, capital – something that is still sorely missing from this region.

The Silicon Cape is a dream that belongs to everyone and anyone. No one person or group started it, no single person or group is going to build it. It belongs to all of us and it needs all of us. Silicon Cape will succeed not despite our egalitarian structure, but, rather, because of it.