Dr. Sumarie Roodt, the chairperson of Silicon Cape, says “Our co-operation with AWS highlights how carefully selected and structured collaborations can positively impact local economic ecosystems, particularly as it will enable key-value exchanges to take place between the Silicon Cape and AWS communities. It should be used as an example to inspire a growing number of similar collective impact collaborations.
Our relationship with AWS enables startups as well as small, medium, and micro-sized enterprises to think big and accelerate economic growth by allowing them to get started quickly, scale as they need and gain access to the same technology infrastructure that was previously reserved for large enterprises.
Wesgro CEO, Tim Harris has welcomed the announcement that Amazon has invested in a key ecosystem coordinator like Silicon Cape, saying: “This investment shows that there is confidence in the tech ecosystem of Cape Town and in the economy of the Western Cape. And there should be. Cape Town is the Tech Capital of Africa, and one of the major tech hubs of the world. It is the most productive on the continent, employing more people than that of Nairobi and Lagos combined. Our ecosystem is full of talented and skilled people, where innovation is a way of life. I am confident this collaboration will be a success, as we continue to position our destination for more investment in the future.”
