James Vos Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth

Today I had the pleasure of welcoming Sheldon Goncalves, who officially started as the new head of our Business Hub. We met in my office so I could outline the priorities for the year ahead, and he was joined by the fantastic Business Hub team. The Business Hub is one of my priority programmes as the Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth because this is where we are business-facing and solution-driven. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs set up shop, scale their operations, become more profitable, and ultimately create more jobs in Cape Town. Through our support programmes. from workshops on tendering, costing, pricing, marketing, and compliance, to smart procurement and supplier development, we aim to make it easier for businesses to succeed. If your business needs assistance, reach out to my team at business.support@capetown.gov.za.

I’m proud to share that Cape Town is taking its investment drive to the next level with the launch of the Invest Cape Town Ambassador Programme, an initiative to mobilise influential voices who know Cape Town, believe in its potential, and can champion its strengths on the world stage. We’ve appointed key leaders locally and in international markets to help attract new investment and showcase Cape Town’s business opportunities. This programme is designed to bring more foreign investment into our city, support the growth of local businesses, and get Cape Town-made products onto shelves across the globe. It’s an exciting step forward for our city’s economy and for creating more jobs and economic opportunities. #EconomicGrowthForCapeTown #EasiestPlaceToDoBusiness #JobsAreMadeInCapeTown #InvestCapeTown

🌊 Catching Waves and Creating Opportunity 🌊 This is definitely a first for me: delivering a speech at a surfing expo! But as someone responsible for driving Cape Town’s economic growth, I couldn’t imagine a better place to talk about opportunity than the room of people at Surf Expo Africa who quite literally know how to ride a wave. Cape Town isn’t just a city with a coastline — we are a city flanked by two oceans, shaped by them, inspired by them, and increasingly, powered economically by them. According to the City of Cape Town's Special Purpose Vehicle, #BlueCape, our surf schools, water-sport clubs, ocean-lifestyle businesses, and marine innovators feed into an ocean-sports economy now valued at around R2 billion a year, and growing at roughly 20% annually. That’s not just a ripple. That’s a serious swell. Let’s keep riding it — together.

Earlier today, I met with Capita Group CEO, Adolfo Hernandez, and Edlin Davis, Managing Director for the South Africa division. Since first meeting them in March this year, it’s been inspiring to see the remarkable growth of their operations in Cape Town and even more exciting to hear about their continued commitment to investing in our city. Gone are the days when this industry was viewed as offering only entry-level jobs. Today, the BPO sector provides clear pathways to long-term careers, specialised skills, and leadership opportunities. When these global giants bid for new locations, they choose Cape Town for the high-value, complex problem-solving work that requires world-class talent and our people continue to deliver. Cape Town is open for business, investment, and opportunity. #ThisIsCapeTown #ChooseCapeTown

I’m absolutely thrilled to share some big news for Cape Town, and especially for the Cape Flats! We’ve secured a massive win for our BPO sector: a major multinational operator is gearing up to build a 2500–3000 seat Business Process Outsourcing campus in Mitchell’s Plain ☎️ This is the kind of game-changing, job-creating investment we’ve been pushing for, and now it’s happening right where so many of the staff actually live. I’ve had the pleasure of personally sitting down with the operator driving this project so that we could secure this new investment for Cape Town and make sure it lands exactly where it matters most. Phase 1 kicks off with recruitment and training while the full campus is being constructed over the next 12–18 months. And once that campus opens, it will be a first for the Cape Flats - large-scale international BPO operations rooted directly in the community. I also want to acknowledge the important role of CapeBPO, our valued business partner in this sector. Their support has been invaluable in getting us to this milestone. This is more than good news, it’s a big step forward in our mission to take opportunities into our communities and bring global business closer to our people. It’s happening, and it’s happening here. Early next year, we’ll share details on the operator, site, and training opportunities. #InvestCapeTown #EconomicGrowth

Big, big news for Cape Town! ✈️ ✈️ ✈️ LATAM Airlines is officially launching direct flights between São Paulo in Brazil and Cape Town from September 2026, a massive win for tourism, trade, investment… and for everyone who loves seeing our city rise on the world stage. This announcement has me genuinely excited. On a previous trade mission to São Paulo, I met with the LATAM team to talk about exactly this kind of connection, and now it’s becoming a reality. Moments like this remind me why we push so hard to open new routes for our region. And a shout-out to the Air Access partnership at Wesgro for the behind-the-scenes work that helps make these wins possible. Get ready for the Dreamliner touching down in the Mother City! #ThisIsCapeTown #InvestCapeTown

This past week in Shanghai, China has been a standout moment in our work to open new markets and attract investment for Cape Town. It was my honour to lead this delegation, a mission that reflects one of my central priorities: opening more markets for Cape Town businesses and attracting greater foreign investment into our city. These engagements are practical, focused steps to unlock opportunities that support jobs, growth, and greater global reach for Cape Town. This mission stands out as one of the most impactful I’ve undertaken. We held outcomes-driven meetings with green-tech and energy manufacturers who will be in Cape Town next week to explore setting up operations. We engaged financial institutions to unlock export funding for local businesses. We met with CEOs of multinational companies to connect them with local production partners, with the Consul General to strengthen investment facilitation, and with SA Tourism to advance destination marketing resources and the rollout of our Weixin/WeChat campaign. We also deepened cooperation with Invest Shanghai on joint investment positioning and proudly showcased our world-class Western Cape businesses at the Food & Hospitality Expo and Wine Pro. Looking ahead, the next major step I would like to see achieved is a direct flight between Cape Town and China, a move that would significantly boost trade, tourism, and investment flows for our region. My sincere thanks to Wesgro for their excellent arrangements and partnership throughout this mission. #ThisIsCapeTown #InvestCapeTown #WeMeanBusiness #Wesgro

It’s Day 2 of the Western Cape Investment Summit and I’m so excited for my team and I to share volume 3 of the City of Cape Town’s Ease of Doing Business Index. #WesternCapeInvestmentSummit #EaseOfDoingBusiness

I had the honour of standing in for Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis at the opening of the much anticipated Western Cape Investment Summit. This gathering is about ideas meeting action, and business leaders, investors, and government coming together to build the partnerships that will turbocharge growth across our city and province. What we’re doing every single day, is building the foundation for a stronger, smarter, and more inclusive economy Welcome to the future we’re building together. #WesternCapeInvestmentSummit #ChooseCapeTown #InvestCapeTown

Earlier this week, I joined WSP in Africa’s “Designing Tomorrow, Today” panel discussion, where leaders from across the property, sustainability, legal, and technology sectors came together to explore the mega-trends shaping Africa’s built environment. Our discussion focused on how cities like Cape Town are responding to the challenges and opportunities around climate resilience, urbanisation, technology, and resource management these are all key drivers of inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Thank you to WSP for convening such an insightful dialogue and for creating a platform that encourages collaboration and innovation across sectors.