Agriculture & Agro-Processing
South Africa has an advanced agriculture sector, coupled with world-renowned agriculture R&D centers. South Africa possess unique agro-technologies in the field of plant cultivation, animal husbandry, animal gene therapy and fresh fruit products.
South Africa is a food self-sufficient country, with the bulk of the population’s food needs produced locally from raw materials. SA’s well developed food and beverages industry has also become a global player.
South Africa’s agro-processing sector consists of 11 downstream agricultural sub-sectors, including meat processing, preservation of fruit and vegetables, dairy products, and canning and preserving of fish.
Construction & Property Development
Since 2010 FIFA World Cup that was held in South Africa, the country has initiated the process of the construction and infrastructure overhaul programs. The South African Presidential Infrastructure Projects is a national government programme that supports infrastructure development of the country.
Private, state, provincial, municipal, and parastatal landholdings are all potentially available for commercial development.
Commercial real estate is well developed in South Africa, with private landholdings in both urban and outlying areas. The availability of industrially zoned and serviced land varies by location.
Property owners, brokers, managers and developers who are members of the Property Council of South Africa are available to assist investors in locating, buying and selling private property. Any of these companies can be located through the Property Council of South Africa.
Banking & Financial Sector
The financial sector in South Africa is well developed and comprises 30 banks with almost 4,000 branches, two mutual banks, and a number of foreign bank branches and offices, non-banking financial institutions (including state-owned development finance institutions (DFIs), smaller financial intermediaries and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the 18th largest in the world in 2011.
South Africa’s banking industry is dominated by four major commercial banking groups: Absa, First National Bank, Standard Bank and Nedcor. These provide retail and investment banking services in competition with a wide range of niche commercial banks.
The South African banking sector is highly concentrated, with four banks accounting for over 80 percent of total banking assets. These banks have expanded internationally, especially in the SADC region, where they acquired substantial market shares.
ICT and Electronics
Internet and cellular telephony penetration in South Africa is among the highest in the world.
The South African ICT sector is the largest on the African continent and the 20th biggest in the world. As an increasingly important contributor to South Africa’s GDP, the country’s ICT and electronics sector is both sophisticated and developing.
The country has a network that is 99% digital and includes the latest in fixed-line, wireless and satellite communications, making it the most developed telecommunications network on the continent. South Africa’s IT industry is characterized by technology leadership, particularly in the field of electronic banking services.
South African companies are world leaders in pre-payment, revenue management and fraud prevention systems, and in the manufacture of set-top boxes, all exported successfully to the rest of the world. Several international corporates, recognized as leaders in the IT sector, operate subsidiaries from South Africa, including IBM, Unisys, Microsoft, Intel, Systems Application Products (SAP), Dell, Novell and Compaq.
The South African IT industry growth outstrips the world average. It has ready access to cutting edge technologies, equipment and skills and has the advantage of access to the rapid expansion of telecoms and IT throughout the vast African continent.
ICT activities are fragmented across a number of government departments, research institutions, universities and the private sector.
