RAPULA MOATSHE
The capital city of South Africa is well positioned to promote export development as a gateway to the rest of the African continent.
This was the key message that filtered through last week during the annual Capital City Business Chamber prestige gala at the SunBet Arena in Menlyn.
The glamorous occasion attracted more than 430 participants representing various business sectors.
The purpose of the event, according to organisers, was to showcase Pretoria or Tshwane as the capital city of South Africa, well positioned to promote export development as the “Gateway to Africa”.
Organisers described it as “highly successful” in view of the fact that many participants are already looking forward to next year’s event in November.
The annual Capital City Business Chamber prestige gala had a three-year hiatus because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Capital City Business Chamber chief executive Fanie du Plessis hailed the entity as one of the most active business chambers in the country, with a prominent focus on economic growth within Tshwane.
The organisation is working in partnership with government and business leadership from all sectors.
In selling the capital city as a gateway to Africa, organisers highlighted the fact that Pretoria is the location of the Union Buildings – the official seat of the South African government – as one of the unique features for its marketing.
The city was also promoted as the administrative capital of the country, and home to the second-largest diplomatic hub in the world next to Washington DC.
“It hosts four prominent original equipment manufacturers and is ideally positioned in becoming SA’s Auto City. It accommodates a total of forty industrial areas or parks covering all manufacturing sub-sectors,” organisers said.
Last week’s programme included a section on “positioning our industries”, which included, among others, manufacturing, automotive, agro-processing and property and infrastructure.
Chrys Haitas, Capital City Business Chamber executive director for strategic business development, said: “The event was so successful and so overwhelming that we are already booked for next year.
“It was a very highly successful evening. It is an annual event which we haven’t had since Covid-19. Our last one was in October 2019. We had already booked for 2020 and then Covid came.”
As part of the event, Miss South Africa 2023, Natasha Joubert helped to promote the Miss South Africa Bursary Foundation Pledge Drive. The pledges came to over R600 000.
Among the business organisations that attended were PwC, Traxtion Africa, LTG Logistics, Pioneer Plastics and SGA Law.
Dignitaries included the Tshwane Executive Mayor, Cilliers Brink and Republic of Kenya High Commissioner Catherine Muigai Mwangi.
Pretoria News