27.10  CHRISTINE ONLINE:  Silicon Cape – Is Cape Town set to become the next tech start-up hotspot?   |  On Thursday, 8 October 2009, the inaugural event for Silicon Cape was held at the Rotunda of the Bay Hotel in Camps Bay, Cape Town. This is an initiative aimed at fostering technological innovation and development in the Western Cape.

Silicon Cape is the brainchild of Vinny Lingham (founder of Yola.com among others) and Justin Stanford of 4DiCapital. It’s not so much a physical entity, as it is a vision – or idea – of a community that supports and provides an environment conducive to technological development and growth.

There is undoubtedly interest in Silicon Cape, as Justin Spratt co-founder of ISLabs writes on TechCentral.co.za , with well over 1300 members on the Silicon Cape social networking site and the launch event oversubscribed by nearly three to one. Even Western Cape premier Helen Zille was in attendance. Other notable attendees included Dr Mamphela Ramphele (who is currently the chairperson of the Technology and Innovation Agency) and successful businessman Johann Rupert of luxury goods company Richemont.

Interest in such an initiative is one thing but, as Spratt points out, the reason that Silicon Valley in the US and Bangalore in India have prospered on the technology front is that the environment is favourable to entrepreneurship and innovation.  The goal of Silicon Cape is to find out what needs to be done to create such an environment here in South Africa.

A nurturing environment

This means creating an “eco-system” that attracts the right elements, including VCs, entrepreneurs and talent. While this is Lingham and Stanford’s idea, they are quick to affirm that everyone needs to embrace it – the way for this to succeed is through co-operation and community.

Silicon Cape seeks to forge links and working relationships with tertiary institutions, both in the Western Cape and nationally, in order to grow, develop and inspire our nation’s intellectual capital. And not only to inspire it, but to retain it!

Hand in hand with tertiary training, Silicon Cape hopes to engage with government to cultivate an environment that is sympathetic and beneficial to entrepreneurial activity.  This means having meaningful links with the right departments and top brass in government, stimulating growth through marketing, and possible tax breaks and investment, among other things. These benefits will have a knock-on effect as more businesses create more jobs and stimulate the economy. Tax breaks would also make the Cape an attractive place to start a business.

Finally, Silicon Cape seeks to develop links with big businesses to give the little guy a voice and access to potential resources and knowledge. Big businesses will have access to leading innovations and ideas which are so often stifled by bureaucratic processes.

Building bridges and encouraging entrepreneurship

MC on the day, Matthew Buckland, summarised some of the aims and ideals that the Silicon Cape initiative should foster in his opening address . These include not just talking shop; big talk needs to be matched with big action. He notes that this vision should not operate in a socio-economic vacuum and should certainly not be “by the elite for the elite”. The entrepreneurial spirit needs to been inclusive and build not only the industry, but people too.

Silicon Cape also hopes to bridge the gap between VCs (investors) and entrepreneurs. Buckland says that he’s often heard entrepreneurs lamenting the lack of VC support, and conversely, VCs complaining that they don’t hear enough good ideas. This initiative seeks to bring these two parties together as well as being a resource centre for those needing guidance, confidence, direction and mentoring.

All in all, this is a fantastic initiative, and certainly one that will foster a spirit of innovation and advancement through the web/tech community here in South Africa. It has not been without its criticism – many argue that the South African web industry is hampered by our poor (and expensive) bandwidth. Others seem to think that people in the Cape are too laid back to actually mobilise on such an initiative. Of course, as mentioned, this has to be a group effort in order to be successful. There has to be buy-in from all stakeholders – this includes government, educational institutions and the community at large.

What do you need to do to get involved? Well, you can start by registering on the Silicon Cape social networking site: www.siliconcape.com . Blog about it, create your own profile and register more patents! Get going with your business ideas and any projects you’ve been incubating. If you own a business, encourage more entrepreneurship or think about giving your employees equity (it shifts the balance and is a great motivator). Think global but stay local. Silicon Cape is definitely something to watch and it will be interesting to see how things unfold in the coming months.


About the author:

Christine da Silva is a professional and well-experienced Online Marketing Strategist specialising in Search Engine Optimisation. She has an enviable depth of experience and knowledge of the Online Marketing industry and her reputation has secured her company, AlterSage, clients from around the globe.