ICT News South Africa

CiTi celebrates 20 years of excellence

The ICT sector is not only one of the fastest-growing industries but it also creates millions of jobs, said Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, at the 20th-anniversary celebration of the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi).
CiTi celebrates 20 years of excellence

‘It was a pleasure to take part in this joyous occasion as the CiTi delivers the facilitation of crucial skills development work for the City. The ICT sector is an enabler of many other industries, and it is also a growth sector with huge potential globally. It contributes significantly to the provision of business opportunities to SMMEs; enhances Cape Town’s competitiveness as a knowledge economy, promotes entrepreneurial activity, supports the development of other sectors through its links to the financial services industry and industry in general in terms of servicing local and global companies,’ said Alderman Vos.

Information communications technology (ICT) is not only one of the fastest-growing industries, creating millions of jobs directly, but it is also a fundamental enabler of innovation and development. The partnership between the City of Cape Town and CiTi aims to facilitate training, skills development and business development for the ICT industry.

In recent years the City’s Enterprise and Investment Department has provided funding support to CiTi , and in return has helped with the training of 2,269 young beneficiaries and created 511 jobs in Cape Town.

‘As a City, we look forward to many more years of successful collaboration that will lead to employment opportunities and economic growth,’ said Alderman Vos.

Focus areas

The key focus areas of training are:

CapaCiTi Skills Development

CapaCITi is an industry-demand led multi-stakeholder programme initiated in 2010 by the Cape IT Initiative and DEDT WCG, in collaboration with industry, academia, the relevant SETAs and the e-Skills Institute of the Department of Communications as well as the City of Cape Town. Initially conceptualised as a tech skills programme to meet the growing market demand, CapaCiTi has quickly evolved into a career accelerator.

Top Tech Tools for Women in Business

This flagship 10-week programme is aimed at women-owned businesses. It creates a supportive space for women entrepreneurs to gain an in-depth, hands-on, experiential learning experience of the tech tools available to aid in the growth and development of their businesses.

Women business owners are introduced to an extensive range of powerful online and digital programmes and platforms to support their business activities.

Township Economy Innovation Cluster

The township economy innovation cluster is an ecosystem development initiative that puts the Khayelitsha Bandwidth Barn as the nexus of inclusive business development in the digital economy in Cape Town. As the country’s only township-based tech hub, Khayelitsha Bandwidth Barn is well-positioned to profile and promote innovative kasi entrepreneurs, who are creating products and services in and for township economies.

Digital Skills Accelerator

CapaCiTi Digital Skills Accelerator trains young, unemployed Capetonians for three target sectors – Technical Skills for the ICT industry, Tech Skills for the Digital Economy and Broad-Based Digital Skills for Jobs.

All learning programmes are designed to address the growing tech skills shortage by upskilling a segment of unemployed youth with limited or no prior experience in tech or ICT. The technical skills on offer are validated as part of the design against several data sources, most importantly, that of corporate input and feedback.

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