South African Business 2018 edition

OVERVIEW
free service available in 780 zones
such as libraries, educational institutions
and clinics and libraries.
More than 1 500km of network
fibre has been rolled out in
Gauteng province since 2014. A
total of 3 000 access sites should be
connected by 2020.
The Small Enterprise
Development Agency runs ICT
incubators in several parts of
South Africa. The SoftstartBTI
ICT incubator is in Midrand and
Tuksnovation, a high-tech incubator,
is at Pretoria University. In the
Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan
Municipality there is the SEDA
Nelson Mandela Bay ICT Incubator
(SNII). A new research and development
laboratory was established
by SNII in 2016, focussing
on apps, mechanical and technical
prototypes, and software
solutions.
SNII also hosted a national conference
on “Universal Affordable
Access to Communications in
South Africa” in 2016. An example
of what can be done to reduce
telecommunication costs in rural
areas was presented by the
University of the Western Cape,
who teamed up with the Mankosi
community in a rural part of
the Eastern Cape to create the
Zenzeleni Network. This is essentially
a community telecoms
company where local calls are free,
data is considerably cheaper and
calls to other networks are half the
normal cost.
The Universal Service and
Access Agency of South Africa
(USAASA) is providing connectivity
for schools in five provinces
and smart devices have been
distributed to schools.
Incentives relevant to companies and educational bodies in the
ICT sector are available from the Department of Trade and Industry
(dti) and include:
• The Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme
(THRIP): companies and educational institutions working to
improve technology; 50/50 cost sharing grant to a maximum of
R8-million
• Technology Development Fund: the Technology Innovation
Agency makes up to R50-million available for up to 10 years
• Technology Venture Capital: managed by the Industrial
Development Corporation; commercialisation of innovative
products, processes and technologies.
The National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA) was
originally created to develop skills for the broadcasting environment,
but is now being integrated with eSkills Network and the Institute
for Satellite and Software Applications (ISSA) to form Ikamva National
e-Skills Institute (iNeSI). The focus is on developing e-skills capacity by
creating partnerships that guide e-skills initiatives.
There are many opportunities for employment in the sector. It
is ironic that in a country with a very high unemployment rate, the
Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) in 2016 put
the number of vacancies in software and application development,
cloud computing and information security at 40 000 (Sunday Times).
Training is available from organisations such as the Quad Digital
Academy, a Standard Bank initiative, an ICT Incubator in Port Elizabeth
run by the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) and from the
City of Johannesburg (which runs a digital intern programme called
COJEDI). Scarce skills training is offered by the City of Cape Town (in
partnership with SAP Africa) in software programming. The programme
is called “Western Cape Skills for Africa”.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Ikamva National eSkills Institute: www.enesi.org.za
Independent Communications Authority: www.icasa.org.za
State Information Technology Agency: www.sita.co.za
Technology Innovation Agency: www.tia.org.za
127 SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2018