How South Africa attracted a range of investors and ensured capital safety

Across the globe, more and more of the world’s biggest and most wealthy countries have turned their interest towards South Africa has a destination for investment and this is certainly no recent change. In fact, since the early 2010’s, an increasing number of countries and businesses alike have been making their interest known and have been working to overcome potential challenges that these investments might bring. For SA, however, these investments are a much-needed commodity for their own capital safety and as a result, securing as many worthwhile investments as possible has become a priority. Here, we’re exploring just how SA has managed to attract investors thus far and ensured the safety of their own capital and economy as a result.

The Growing Economy

If there’s one particular change worth noting in SA over the course of the past decade, it’s that more and more industries are grappling with investment opportunities in this growing economy, particularly where new technologies, healthcare and financial services are concerned. In fact, it’s through a strong regulatory framework that these investments are proving to help the country flourish in the financial markets. Investments surrounding commercial services, mortgage lending, insurance services and even trading and investments have all played their part in SA’s growth and start-up culture has thrived as a result.

Start-ups in South Africa have ever appeared to gain much traction in global markets, but in 2017 alone, funding for these companies, in particular, rocketed up to around $560million, an increase of over 50% but most notable, perhaps, is the maturity that these companies have started to take on as a result. Financial services, in particular, FinTech and investment technologies, have certainly proven to be worthy of battling with the big leagues, not least due to the increased regulation that SA has introduced. The Financial Services Board of South Africa (FSB) has helped to regulate and oversee any financial service within SA and provided a level of stability and trust in what was once considered an unstable and volatile industry here.

With these regulations and investments in mind, however, SA has a lot of money on their hands in which to utilise to its full potential. Here’s how they are doing precisely that:

How South Africa Is Utilising Its Investments

With these investments and continued interest within SA, they have certainly managed to secure capital safety but they aren’t hoarding this by any means. In fact, South Africa is quickly becoming synonymous with new technologies and its willingness to jump ahead with every technological innovation available. Through investments, SA often has access to technologies they may otherwise not have had the chance to utilise, but there are a number of markets in particular that are starting to become clear leaders here.

The first is cryptocurrency. ‘Bitcoin’ and ‘South Africa’ might not be two entities you’d typically put together in the same sentence, but it’s quickly becoming clear that a rising number of SA’s residents and financial services are picking up these technologies and exploiting them for their greatest benefits. The economy in SA has never typically been known for stability, but cryptocurrencies have offered a secure and relatively anonymous currency to utilise without the risk of government intervention. This way, residents can spend their coins without the possibility of exploitation by their government and in some cases, a decreased risk of losses. With South Africa consistently ranking highest for bitcoin-related searches on Google, this is a clear sign that the country could be the ideal basis for cryptocurrency use on a wider, mass-adoption scale.

However, cryptocurrencies aren’t the only development that has graced the SA markets – e-commerce as a whole has taken them by storm, introducing the likes of peer-to-peer lending, microfinancing and even crowdfunding. This is a clear result of a previously rocky economy, made stable only by increased investments and improvements in country-wide regulations. However, these technologies have only proven beneficial to those seeking out alternative forms of loans and credit. Through peer-to-peer lending, many residents can escape hefty interest fees and excessive costs associated with their spending and with improved government regulation, this could prove to become a standard part of SA’s financial system.

While South Africa certainly has some room to improve in terms of investment utilisation, the growth of their economy and the introduction of new technologies alone have helped push them to be one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Through regulation and further investment, this could only continue to grow, so watch this space.

Staff Writer