GreenCape CEO appointed Chairperson of the International Cleantech Network (ICN)

STATEMENT BY THE CITY’S MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND ASSET MANAGEMENT, ALDERMAN JAMES VOS.

I would like to congratulate Mike Mucahy, CEO: GreenCape, on his appointment as the new Chairperson of the International Cleantech Network (ICN) Board for 2020.

We are excited as this position has great potential to grow Cape Town’s green economy and create jobs.

As a strategic business partner of the City, we fund ICN as a special purpose vehicle to unlock the manufacturing and employment potential in the green economy. The ICN focuses on unlocking investment opportunities, as well as removing barriers to entry and expansion, thereby facilitating growth for Cleantech companies in Cape Town.

This appointment is tangible proof that the work we do to promote the green economy, in partnership with GreenCape and others, has global relevance.

We have identified the green economy as a high growth sector that will be able to contribute to sustainable jobs in the near future. Therefore, one of the priorities of my department is to promote and attract investment into the City of Cape Town with a particular focus on green tech. This was further supported by the launch of the Atlantis Special Economic Zone (ASEZ) in December 2018.

We continue to work with other spheres of government and partners such as GreenCape to find sustainable green economy solutions to grow our economy.

‘As part of the ICN network, we are able to represent the city and the region on an international platform. This gives us the opportunity to tap into a global network that could potentially give market access and insights to our members.

‘The network allows us to explore opportunities to unlock economic benefit for the Cleantech business community in the city and the region, and to explore ways to represent the local Cleantech solutions on a global stage,’ said Mulcahy.

This year, we look forward to working even harder together with our strategic business partners to explore other options to grow the green economy that will in turn help to create job opportunities for the residents of Cape Town.

Members of the ICN Cleantech cluster provide technologies that contribute to creating environmental, social and economic solutions to many of the challenges the world is facing today.

This new significant role on the ICN Board gives us the opportunity to expand access to the global market for businesses in Cape Town.

We wish Mike all the best in this key strategic position.