Manufacturing is the second biggest sector in the Western Cape and contributes about 15% to the South African manufacturing sector output. Although its agro-processing sector has shown resilience, the contribution of manufacturing to the province’s GDP is in decline, which is a concern due to the manufacturing sector’s job multiplier effect – much more so than the services sector that is growing fast.
Securing a sustainable growth trajectory for the province’s manufacturers will require intensely focused collaborative efforts by both government and business to strongly support the productive and the manufacturing sectors, in order to marshal domestic resources for increasing investment in the real economy.
The second annual MANUFACTURING INDABA WESTERN CAPE will bring together government and business on the 8th November at the Cape Town International Convention Centre to bolster the province’s manufacturing sectors, unlock the untapped potential and explore new partnerships and opportunities.
With a notable delegation from the Department of Trade & Industry (the dti), the conference will introduce and update delegates on the latest incentive schemes, programmes and opportunities that are relevant to manufacturers in the Western Cape.
Successful manufacturing CEOs and executives are also presenting and taking part in interactive panel sessions and delegates will learn trade secrets of manufacturing success and find out what it takes to grow their operations to the next level. “The Western Cape has world-class manufacturing industries, which given the necessary input, tools and collaboration, can be taken to the next level. There is a lot of traction with the province pushing to become Africa’s green and renewable energy hub. The aim of the Manufacturing Indaba Western Cape in November is to focus on and boost the growth potential of the province’s key manufacturing industry sectors and to provide a platform for interactive sessions with the prime movers of the nation’s manufacturing sectors,” said Liz Hart, Managing Director of the Manufacturing Indaba. Manufacturing Indaba Western Cape’s strategic partners are the Department of Trade & Industry (the dti), the Manufacturing Circle, the Western Cape Government, Wesgro, the Western Cape Tooling Initiative, Cape Chamber of Business & Industry, Greencape and the NCPC-SA. The speakers and experts on the programme are identified by the partners based on the unique insights and perspectives they are able to share with manufacturers to make smart and informed decisions to improve the province’s manufacturing competitiveness.
Earlier this year, the dti launched the 8th iteration of Industrial Policy Action Plan – (IPAP2016/17-2018/19) at the Guestro Naledi Inhlanganiso Group Foundry (NI-Forge), in Benoni, Gauteng. IPAP 2016 envisages nothing less than a massive, concerted and focused
national industrial effort, intimately involving all the key stakeholders and economic partners.
“Launching IPAP 2016 emphasised the importance that government attaches to developing close cooperation with cutting-edge local industrial (and especially black-owned) companies involved not just in infrastructure development, transport and logistics, but in the widest range of technologically sophisticated, export-ready and labour-intensive sectors of the SA economy,” said Minister Rob Davies.
“Now, more than ever, there is a pressing need for structural change in the economy, to break out of commodity dependence and move to a more diversified base in which increasing manufacturing-based value addition, employment creation and export-intensity come to define South Africa’s growth trajectory,” said Davies.
