“Over the past 40 years, Shenzhen has developed from a small fishing village on the coastal border into one of the cities with the highest economic, enterprise, innovation, and talent density in China,” said Guo Ziping, director of the Development and Reform Commission of the Shenzhen Municipality.
This achievement is tied to the city’s status as a global hub for innovation in the technology sector – producing almost 730,000 smart phones, 15,000 integrated circuits and 117,000 computers every day.
“Shenzhen has also fostered 11 Fortune 500 companies,” said Ziping.
President of the South Africa-China Economic and Trade Association, CEO of Bank of China Johannesburg Branch , Zhang Chaoyang, echoed this sentiment and spoke of Shenzhen as “China's Silicon Valley,” and “a hub of innovation and technology”.
In her opening address to the business delegates from Shenzhen and South Africa, Ziping emphasised the depth of the relationship between South Africa and Shenzhen and said, “South Africa has become the largest trading partner of Shenzhen in Africa, with bilateral trade reaching 21 billion Yuan (R55.4bn).”
The event, which aimed to deepen economic and trade exchanges between the city of Shenzhen and South African companies, also sought to advance industrial collaboration, technological synergy, and market alignment. It also underlined how strong bilateral ties are made tangible through the presence of market leading companies like Huawei in South Africa.
These synergies prompted Shenzhen-founded ICT solution provider, Huawei, to use this platform to launch the Huawei eKit brand to the South African market.
“You can see many Shenzhen-inspired elements in South Africa with products like Huawei’s mobile phones,” said Ziping. The opening of Huawei’s innovation centre in 2023 displays how its latest offerings across sectors like ICT and energy make it a “microcosm of the accelerated radiation of Shenzhen’s innovation momentum into the world”.
Huawei’s eKit network products and solutions provide a variety of affordable solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It’s designed for use in SME offices, budget hotels, schools, and small factories.
Vincent Liu, director of Commercial and Distribution Business at Huawei South Africa’s Enterprise Business introduced the Huawei eKit products and solutions and said, “They will provide solutions for connectivity, storage, video solutions, and intelligent collaboration. It's a new brand that brings the latest technology to SMEs.”
The Huawei eKit will better serve SMEs by helping them go digital. Huawei initiated a commercial and distribution business transformation at the beginning of 2023, and it’s now furthering investments in the global SME market. The eKit provides a variety of cost-effective products including networking, storage, and intelligent collaboration equipment.
The Huawei eKit official website and Huawei eKit app, both complement the hardware offering by providing a one-stop digital platform that will support efficient operations for distribution partners.
At the event Huawei marked the eKit’s entry into South Africa with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Vincent Liu, joined by managing director for Huawei South Africa’s Enterprise Business, Gene Zhang, and director of Huawei Enterprise MKT and Solution Business, Mr. York, closed off the conference by awarding the Huawei eKit Gold Distribution Partner award to Switchcom Distribution.
“We believe that technologies that improve communications will also grow the economy,” said Liu. Partnerships with ICT distributors like Switchcom Distribution will assist in Huawei’s vision and provide end-to-end solutions for resellers, installers, and internet service providers in the country.
Pan Qingjiang, consul general of China in Johannesburg, summarised this conference as “another manifestation of strong values and pragmatic style that further bilateral relations in areas of trade and investment.”
Switchcom Distribution is a dynamic and innovative ICT distributor in South Africa, providing end-to-end solutions for resellers, installers, ISPs, WISPs and end users in Wireless, Networking, VoIP, Surveillance and Fibre sectors.
