Not content to allow Johannesburg and Cape Town to lure its best IT skills away, the city of Durban is fighting back.
In partnership with private-sector firms like Deloitte and Business Connexion, the eThekwini municipality has formed SmartXchange, a business incubator that helps entrepreneurs. Aside from typical business support services, SmartXchange sources opportunities for its entrepreneurs.
"If necessary we will bid for work as SmartXchange," says CEO Martin Cele. "We oversee the delivery, but subcontract the work to the businesses in the incubator."
The incubator has focused its efforts on areas in which Durban has particular expertise or differentiation. For instance, eThekwini has one of the highest credit ratings among SA municipalities; the port is the biggest and busiest in Africa; the city is SA's preferred destination for domestic tourism; and it is nurturing ambitions as a destination for film-makers. "We have specific processes and abilities in these areas that can be mined to create products and applications with a commercial value," Cele says.
eThekwini's excellent revenue management processes, for example, could be sold or leased to other municipalities; or the port processes could be mined to develop software to run car terminals.
