President Cyril Ramaphosa has commended the recognition by global technology companies of South Africa’s ambition to become a leading digital investment destination.
In his weekly newsletter to the nation, he highlights that the country has a unique opportunity to ‘leapfrog’ outdated and obsolete technologies to grow the economy and increase development, stressing the importance of building domestic capability and not fostering dependency.
He notes that the Google Africa Cloud Summit, held in Johannesburg on July 1, helped to position South Africa and the broader continent as a core growth region for the global cloud ecosystem.
At the summit, multinational technology corporation Google announced a range of investments including its ‘Building for Africa’ initiative, a new digital exchange port in the Eastern Cape and building a R3-million digital innovation centre at the South West Gauteng Technical and Vocational Education and Training College, in Soweto, Gauteng.
The ‘Building for Africa’ initiative is designed to advance the increased adoption of cloud technologies and to equip local ecosystems for AI-driven innovation and the digital exchange port is touted as a connectivity hub that will ensure reliable cloud services.
