Cape tech start-up sector establishes immigration policy advocacy panel

Source: Wesgro Press, 06/12/2018

Representatives from the tech start-up sector ecosystem agreed
that it was becoming increasingly critical for their voice to be
heard at a national policy level, particularly with regard to
challenges they face with the immigration framework. It was
therefore agreed to establish a panel of volunteers to advocate on
behalf of the tech start-up sector and entrepreneurial ecosystem
in lieu of amendments expected to the Immigration Act and critical
skills list early next year.
In particular the panel will advocate for a start-up visa, and
for the inclusion in the Critical Skills List of skills that are
scarce in South Africa but critical to building and strengthening
local innovation and entrepreneurship. Brandon Paschal, Incubation
Manager at LaunchLab, highlighted that in Europe many countries
have a start-up visa, and that it plays an important role in the
development of the sector.
It was also agreed that the difficulty of obtaining visas for
entrepreneurs and founders from across Africa to attend
conferences and mentoring sessions in South Africa is a major
challenge to South Africa being the continent’s entrepreneurship
and innovation capital.
This tech sector Town Hall follows a broader stakeholder
engagement in October hosted by Wesgro about the intersection
between the immigration system and foreign investment in South
Africa. The immigration policy initiative launched in Cape Town
yesterday is also in alignment with the formation of a multi-
sectoral task team under the auspices of Business Leadership
South Africa to take up challenges related to the immigration
system.
Kerry Petrie, Interim manager at Silicon Cape said: “Silicon Cape
is stepping up into the space of policy advocacy for the tech
sector in response to calls from our members and partners.
Immigration will be the first issue being tackled that advocates
on behalf of the collective of entrepreneurs and start-ups and
other ecosystem stakeholders in the tech start-up space.” She also
stated that the current visa system was causing South Africa to
miss out on huge opportunities for collaboration and learning
across the continent.
“We are told that a draft immigration bill will be available at
the end of March next year, and a new critical skills list will be
implemented and commence on 1 April next year. All we are calling
for is more engagement and more opportunity to comment. What we
want to achieve through all of this is to get a regime that works
for everyone,” added Immigration lawyer, Stefanie de Saude-
Darbandi, who is also working with the BLSA forum.
MEC of Economic Opportunities, Beverly Schäfer, said: “The Western
Cape has set a goal of becoming a global tech hub and in order to
do so, we will require visa regime needs to be reflective of a
region that is open for business.”
Executive mayor, Dan Plato, commented: “We are very proud of the
tech sector that has developed in Cape Town and the Western Cape
however, there is still much to be done to unlock this sectors
full potential to become one of the top tech destinations in the
world. We applaud the efforts of this sector to come together to
further drive development in local tech.”
Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro, concluded: “Cape Town and the Western
Cape is fast becoming the start-up capital of Africa, and has a
tech sector that employs more than double that of Lagos and
Nairobi combined. It is very important that South Africa’s
regulatory framework not only allows this thriving sector to
achieve its potential, but also allows this ecosystem to support
the development of entrepreneurship and innovation across the
African Continent.”