US technology multinational GE unveiled a R700-million commitment on Thursday designed to support innovation as well as enterprise and skills development in South Africa – an investment that was also closely aligned with government’s increasing demand for localisation when awarding infrastructure contracts.
The programme was broken into two components: a R500-million investment in the creation of a customer innovation centre (CIC) and a R200-million investment in a supplier-development vehicle to provide technical, funding and business support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Speaking at a launch attended by South Africa’s new Small Business Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, GE Africa president and CEO Jay Ireland said the schemes formed part of a larger R5-billion-worth of investments that the group was making across Africa, which he described as the “final growth frontier”.
By: Terence Creamer
