Gauteng Business 2016 edition

SPECIAL FEATURE
Works Programme and other
government job creation programmes
increased from 42,8%
to 52% in 2014. The Eastern Cape
accounted for 22,7% of those
who participated in these programmes,
followed by Gauteng
(17%)—thus raising the level of
job creation and in the process
favourably boosting the province’s
readiness for direct foreign
investment.
Demography
While Gauteng is the country’s
smallest province (with a total
area of 16 548 square kilometres),
it has the largest population, and
by far the highest population density—around 675 people per square
kilometre. Compare that to the Northern Cape with an average of
around three people per square kilometre, the province should have
no shortage of citizens to participate in its lucrative economy. As at
2015, the population of Gauteng was estimated to be 13.2-million.
Furthermore, the province’s cosmopolitan mix of local and foreign
cultures, also forming part of the business world and adding extra
diversity to the economic landscape, sets Gauteng (and the businesses
within it) apart from the rest as a region of tremendous trade and
investment possibilities.
When it comes to education, especially on a tertiary level, the
province is set-up for a reasonably established system that will serve
generations to come. Prime examples are the largest residential university
in South Africa (the University of Pretoria) and UNISA, the latter
being the largest correspondence university in the world.
Most of South Africa’s research and development takes place in
Gauteng, which is home to many of the country’s core biotechnology
companies. Leading research institutions such as the Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research, the Agricultural Research Council
and the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute.
77 GAUTENG BUSINESS 2016