GREENTECH HUB TO DRIVE SOCIOECONOMIC IMPROVEMENT
The Atlantis Special Economic Zone Company is driving sustainable development and job creation in the area by harnessing the opportunities in the growing green economy
Atlantis in the Western Cape has been prioritised as a greentech hub by all three tiers of government. In December 2021, National Treasury approved the scheduling of the Atlantis Special Economic Zone (SEZ) state-owned company (SOC) Limited as a provincial business enterprise. Local businesses and the community are set to benefit from what promises to be a gamechanger for the regional economy as the Atlantis Special Economic Zone Company (ASEZCo) for green technologies becomes a focal point for investment.
The ASEZCo forms part of a mature and effective investment ecosystem in the Western Cape. Partnerships with InvestSA, Wesgro, Greencape and the City of Cape Town’s Enterprise and Investment Unit create an environment of rapid facilitation and access to opportunities – considered to be best practice globally. The support received from this ecosystem can be leveraged to make your business more globally competitive. Opportunities to establish profitable trade relationships exist through Wesgro’s trade facilitation unit and GreenCape’s membership in the International Cleantech Network (ICN). Both these mechanisms provide immediate access to international markets, helping to grow your order book significantly and mitigating against supplying to a single market.
IDEAL LOCATION, PLENTIFUL ADVANTAGES
Atlantis is the ideal location from where to compete in Africa’s green technology markets. The ASEZCo offers industrial-zoned land, a strong support base from government, as well as fruitful business relationships for investors, as you work closely with the locals and help uplift the community. This mutually beneficial relationship is a good foundation for sustainable productivity and success.
“The ASEZCo has the ability to leverage national government funding to provide worldclass infrastructure to investors and partners looking to manufacture their green technologies in the most efficient and environmentally friendly manner in Africa.
With the provision of renewable energy, fibre internet connectivity and recycled water, the resource-efficient manner in which green technology manufacturers can produce their goods adds additional value to their product
“WITH THE PROVISION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY, FIBRE INTERNET CONNECTIVITY AND RECYCLED WATER, THE RESOURCE-EFFICIENT MANNER IN WHICH GREEN TECHNOLOGY MANUFACTURERS CAN MANUFACTURE THEIR GOODS ADDS ADDITIONAL VALUE TO THEIR PRODUCT AT THE GLOBAL LEVEL.” – JARROD LYONS
at the global level. The demand for responsibly manufactured goods is on the rise globally, with consumers being more mindful of the impacts of production on the environment,” comments Jarrod Lyons, Executive: Business Development.
LIVING LAB
The Atlantis SEZ has positioned itself as a world-class eco-industrial park and Living Lab. The Living Lab is an exciting concept that the ASEZCo will embody in showcasing how green and sustainable industrial development is possible.
The Living Lab’s five goals are:
1. Net-zero carbon, which means using as much renewable energy as possible, for example, relying on solar panels and biogas for power.
2. Net-zero water, using less water in the zone than falls onto the land each year. This can be achieved through water retention ponds and the reuse of rainwater in factories and for landscaping.
3. Net-zero waste to landfill. This involves working with industrialists to find creative ways of turning waste into resources for production processes.
4. Net-zero loss in ecological value. This means working with nature and includes activities such as removing alien plant species from the SEZ land, relocating existing threatened species, and, once the factories are built, restoring as much of the ecology as possible in an industrial area.
5. Maximising social inclusion, which means working closely with the community in everything, be it ensuring access to jobs during construction, training in new skills, or helping support new businesses and small, micro and medium enterprises. A dedicated team is doing everything possible to ensure that the Atlantis SEZ positively impacts the community.
COLLABORATION, FACILITATION AND UPLIFTMENT
Infrastructure executive Matthew Cullinan says: “It is an exciting, but also challenging time if certainty and predictability is what you need. For special economic zones, such as the Atlantis SEZ, which is specifically positioning itself to support greentech investors, it requires a flexible and adaptable approach. A willingness to get going, to learn and test is key as one evolves an approach that speaks to investor tenant demands and grows an exciting and compelling locational proposition. It is still early days, but we can already see some key advantages of this focus emerging.
These include growing collaborative efforts to grow skills and enterprises in the local economy and community. The ability to draw in, and connect with, various project partners, most notably across the three spheres of government is a huge asset. This structure is represented in the collaborative efforts shown in programmes that are being implemented in Atlantis.
“There is a focus on building skill sets relevant for the green economy, not just in the SEZ, but also for the regional and national economy,” Cullinan continues. “The need for green skills is steadily growing globally, resulting in future-proof career opportunities for suitably skilled citizens. In all this, we continually emphasise, as part of the company culture, the role and value of active investment facilitation in ensuring that investors looking to get into the exciting greentech market are supported and given a solid and secure base from which to operate.”
Green skills development and growing technical capabilities within the Atlantis community are part of the ASEZCo’s strategic objectives, aligned to the legislative requirement of the Special Economic Zones Act to grow the regional economy and drive socioeconomic impact.
The integrated ecosystem department
(IES) includes skills and enterprise development, together with community integration. The team applies principles of system thinking to identify and address deeply rooted socioeconomic challenges in a complex community environment and to support the expansion of community assets and adaptive systems.
The IES team’s work supports the Living Lab through its activities, most notably ensuring social inclusion through harnessing green technology for the Atlantis community and its industrial zone. The team of six collectively implement initiatives to support the development agenda. Their expertise includes business incubation, green economy and digital development, and community engagement coupled with a wealth of business and local knowledge from three homegrown Atlantis talents. The aim is to enable the Atlantis community, and particularly its youth, to tap into growing job opportunities, particularly opportunities in the buoyant green economy.
The investment in skills development and community initiatives is aligned with many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), collectively aimed at providing a resilient and more sustainable future for Atlantis.
The concept of “shared value” refers to identifying and expanding connections between societal and economic progress. This is a powerful practice, which is driven by the core of business thus ensuring that sustainable and equitable impact on communities is not extractive by nature, but value-adding. The work in skills development and community integration directly addresses SDGs 8 “Decent work and economic growth”, SDG 9 “Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure” and SDG 11 “Sustainable cities and communities”. The integration of business and community through intentional engagement and action actively enables participation in the economy and accessing employment opportunities. IES executive Ellen Fischat says: “The Atlantis Special Economic Zone has been established to bring social and economic development to this region. Social inclusion is important when we are building economies.
Our team is responsible for ensuring that there is community integration between business, the public sector and our investors. They also need to ensure that the local community is skilled to take up these positions, or start businesses of their own. Driving growth through green economy innovation and sustainable job opportunities remains at the heart of what the ASEZCo does, and is what the IES team brings to life within the Atlantis community.”
The Atlantis Special Economic Zone will continue to grow the regional economy in a meaningful and impactful way, enabling the regeneration of Atlantis in a way that puts sustainability, and social inclusion at the top of its agenda.