By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider
The Gauteng Investment Conference (GIC) launched today at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange building in Sandton, and in attendance was the MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Lebogang Maile who addressed the audience in attendance.
Building on the momentum from the inaugural conference held last year, the GIC is aimed to be Africa’s most prominent sub-national investment platform, as it is designed to translate investor interest into bankable, steady projects that will hold socio-economic impact.
Gauteng holds an estimated 34% of the national GDP, and constitutes 7% of sub-saharan Africa’s GDP, as well as driving 60% of South Africa’s exports to the continent. National investment sits at around 15% of GDP, and the conference aims to capitalise on long term capital in order to advance growth and create employment.
In 2025, the GIC had managed to mobilise R312.5 million in pledges which spanned across 60 projects, which is projected to impact 91,200 jobs and a GDP contribution of R530 billion.
“When we hosted the first Gauteng Investment Conference on the 10th of April 2025, our goal was simple, to show that Gauteng is a serious action driven destination for investment.” said Maile in his address.
“The Gauteng Investment Conference in 2025, had a significant impact as over 1,800 people participated, and 312,5 billion in investment pledges were secured which demonstrated Gauteng’s ability to attract investment and build trust with investors” Maile continued in his address.
“We expect these pledges to collectively support over 14,000 jobs and create significant economic opportunities for the people,” said Maile.
MEC Maile then addressed the media regarding how the GIC will impact the economy of Gauteng in 2026 and how it aims to grow from the inaugural year.
“The investment conference is not about how many people come, even if it can be five, the most important thing is the commitment that we receive,” Maile noted in the briefing.
“We are chasing impact so it doesn’t matter whether there are 50, you can have 20 investors each of them investing a billion which is what we want,” Maile continued.
MEC Maile also noted how the investments mobilised by the conference could affect the township economy.
“It’s very important to understand because sometimes people think that township economy is about giving the crumbs to the people in the township and when you talk about township economy, you must have a bag full of money and say this is for the townships, it doesn’t work like that. Because the economy, whether its townships or any other economy, is about three things, its about; production, consumption and money” said MEC Maile.
MEC Maile elaborated saying that production in the townships is not stable, however noted that consumption in the townships is very high and mentioned that the presence of big retailers is keeping the money from circulating the townships.
“There is no mall that is owned by township people in Gauteng. The factories, as limited as they are, which are in the townships, are not owned by township people.” said Maile.