Foreign Direct Investment Intelligence, a division of the Financial Times, each year publishes the Global Cities of the Future ranking. In the Foreign Direct Investment category Cape Town was ranked 21^st globally for its foreign direct investment strategy.

Cape Town was the only African city to be ranked in this category, and was listed alongside other cities such as Hong Kong, Chicago, and Edinburgh.

Cape Town’s executive deputy mayor, Alderman Ian Neilson, stated that the City of Cape Town contributes to economic growth by providing stable governance, clear policy direction, delivery of infrastructure, support services, investment promotion, facilitation, economic research and striving to reduce the administrative burden of doing business.

With regards to Cape Town’s global ranking for Foreign Direct Investment Neilson said:

“This accolade is indeed a massive feather in Cape Town’s cap as it recognises all the ongoing efforts being made by the City and its private sector partners to ensure that Cape Town is on the international map for business and investment.

Attracting investment has been part of our strategy since 2006 where we set out to engage with the international community to promote Cape Town as an ideal place to invest in so that we can create much needed jobs for our people.

Encouraging investment and development is one of the key features of our city development strategy. This strategy is beginning to pay off, with a number of companies setting up their headquarters in Cape Town.

Cape Town is home to most South African retail giant headquarters and investment houses. We are the green hub of Africa, accounting for most of the local manufacturing for the national renewable energy programme.”