ICT's contribution to economic growth needs industry buy-in

South Africa’s information and communi- cation technology (ICT) sector and the investment potential associated with it have a significant role to play in the economic develop- ment of the country.

Speaking at the official opening of the new Gauteng premises of local black economically empowered telecommunications repair and logistics service provider Molapo Technology last month, Communications Minister Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said that government and industry need to provide urgent action to raise the level of investments, competitiveness, education and skills development if the national 6% economic growth target is to be reached.

“Our task, as government, as the industry, for the next decade is to grow the economy, to create more jobs, eradicate poverty and share wealth more broadly across all race and income groups in a way that is politically and socially sustainable,” commented Matsepe-Casaburri.

She highlighted the role of the ICT sector in this challenge and the importance of creating a reliable ICT labour market.

“We need to provide avenues for a greater leadership role in order to improve methodologies and standards for producing a more reliable ICT labour market. We also need to create the appropriate infrastructure that will allow the industry to respond flexibly and timeously to emerging and future demands of investments in ICTs and also, as the industry, to be able to monitor such shifts and needs,” stated Matsepe-Casaburri.

She further noted that it was necessary to take all these changes to the public in order to boost the ICT industry with spin-offs for hardware design, manufacturing, software and applications development, and an increased ICT awareness strategy.

“We also need to accelerate egovernment by centralising government procurement as well as the register of small, medium-sized and microenterprise (SMME) suppliers,” said Matsepe-Casaburri.

The Minister stated that in order to ensure that ICTs make a measurable difference to all South Africans, government, the ICT industry and non-governmental organisations need to collaborate in order to make a contribution to the country’s economic growth.

She added, “We should also coordinate our activities and create a central pool of export opportunities for our SMMEs. All types of network should be used to achieve the lowest connection cost.”

The minister congratulated Molapo Technology, which specialises in third-party electronic repairs, the upgrading and refurbishment of telecommunications equipment for local and international clients, for the role it is playing in creating jobs in the ICT industry.

The company has established new premises, which consolidated the company’s three disparate offices into a single geography.

“The new facility falls in line with our vision to be viewed as a progressive member of the global electronics services industry,” commented company MD Alan Pearce.

He said that quality, innovation, equality and flexibility are important considerations for the company and that the establishment of a facility that offers these qualities to clients has been a dream the company has pursued for some time.

“Our mission is to be a company that exceeds our customers’ expectations and rewards employees who view challenge as opportunity,” commented Pearce.

The company has provided shares for all of its staff members, which, Matsepe-Casaburri commented in her speech, would enable these members to eventually “have their own mobile technologies and devices, have open-source software and other manufacturing technologies, and be able to grow their own global system for mobile communications markets and the mobile telecommunications industry”.

“It is imperative for the ICT industry and government to collaborate and create a strategic and sustainable plan to increase such initiatives in order to create an indigenous, transversal nature of ICTs and to enable a smart proliferation of ICTs in other sectors of the economy,” Matsepe-Casaburri said.