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Welcome to IBM South Africa’s Africa Innovation Centre!

IBM launched its new, world-class Africa Innovation Centre, which is located in its Sandton Offices in Johannesburg on Tuesday 24 June 2008. This is a game-changing investment by IBM in the continent of Africa – fundamentally because of the enormous skills, jobs, industry growth, and wider economic development opportunities it presents.

IBM’s Investment in Africa - Background
The IBM Corporation first launched its operations in South Africa just over 55 years ago. Over the years, IBM has participated and invested in numerous Economic and Leadership Development initiatives that have helped positively shape the advancement of key sections of the society. Continuing on this proud legacy, IBM has in the last three years invested more than $100 million in the local economy. This investment has involved setting up delivery capability centres that help drive growth of both public and private sector industries. Importantly, this investment has also complemented the South African Government-led initiative to position the country as a favourable destination for business process outsourcing.

Last December (2007), the company announced its commitment to increase its investment in the Sub Saharan Africa region by at least $120 million over the next two years only. This commitment is aligned to the company’s Emerging Markets strategy, which has seen IBM creating a new Growth Markets Organisation whose task is to accelerate IBM’s global growth significantly. South Africa – and Africa – is part of this new organisation, which will ensure that the Growth Markets get the talent, investment and attention they deserve to keep growing.

Crucially, IBM’s investment in the continent is driven largely through the company’s Global Innovation Outlook programme, which emphasizes the participation of a multi-disciplinary base of Africans – spanning thought leaders in Government, the Academia, and Business – in an open, collaborative format with a global perspective.

This approach is helping IBM to not only fully appreciate the nuances of doing business on the continent, but also to appreciate the opportunities to be found in partnering with local stakeholders to develop winning and sustainable solutions. It is also giving IBM the opportunity to contribute in the transformation of Africa’s economy to become a major player in the global market place.