SAP Africa Launches Urban Matters Initiative

SAP Africa has kicked-off its SAP® Urban Matters initiative at the Africa Urban Matters, Cities of the Future event being hosted in Cape Town.

The event focuses on how innovative technology can be leveraged to make cities and municipalities more effective and improve the lives of citizens.

Drawing attendees from across Africa and Europe and with representatives from cities in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa and the United Kingdom, the event will feature an opening address by Patricia de Lille, Mayor of the City of Cape Town, a keynote address on ‘Connected Cities’ by Nirvesh Sooful, CEO at African Ideas, and a presentation by Andre Stelzner, CIO, City of Cape Town.

Stelzner will be sharing his experience on what it takes to be an ‘integrated city.’ In addition, participants from cities across Africa will contribute their perspectives to help shape the discussion around the future of cities in Africa.

This event is the African chapter of a series of international SAP events that have been hosted in Singapore, New York City (United States of America), Puebla (Mexico), London (United Kingdom), Auckland (New Zealand), Berlin (Germany), Delhi (India) and Bogota (Colombia). The events showcase best practices of cities around the world, and provide an interactive forum to address local-specific issues.

Glyn Evans, Former Director of Birmingham’s Transformation Programme, will be presenting a case study on City Transformation.

He will not only discuss how ICT solutions helped Birmingham build a better city, but also share the lessons learned while new processes were being implemented.

Also presenting at the event is Jak Koseff, director of Social Assistance from the City of Johannesburg, who will be talking about cities’ social responsibilities. 

In 2010, Africa’s urban population was approximately 36%, but this number is projected to rapidly increase to 50% and 60% by 2030 and 2050, respectively.

According to the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), the proportion of South Africans living in urban areas increased from 52% in 1990 to 62% in 2012.

As Africa is becoming increasingly urbanised with millions of people migrating to all major hubs, there is clearly a pressing need for governments and municipalities to efficiently deal with this enormous influx and all other related issues.

“The need of the hour is to rapidly accelerate the benefits of ICT-enabled change through transformation of the public sector and the wider economy. In order to flourish, African cities must equip themselves with the best possible technical tools to directly tackle environmental and social challenges, underpinned by proven budgeting and management processes,” said Nirvesh Sooful, CEO at African Ideas.

“Governments need to consider partnering with companies like SAP, giving them access to best practices and innovative ways of solving the myriad of complex problems that face cities today.”