South Africa: towards an online platform for Italian companies

Cape Town - The Ambassador of Italy Pier Giovanni Donnici publicly gave his support to the Italian community in South Africa for their continued efforts to create a new business website. The Italian Business Association website is the brainchild of Alfonso Tagliaferri, the consul general of the Italian Consulate in Cape Town. It aims to provide a platform for Italian companies and entrepreneurs operating in South Africa and South African companies with ties or interests in Italy to interact with each other. Several professionals and entrepreneurs have so far offered their time and skills, with the result that a provisional name - CiaoSA! - have been chosen for the website. Donnici said it is the intention of Italy to improve trade and business opportunities with South Africa and that is why this new business website is so important.

"This (business website) is necessary because it will give Italian businesses and entrepreneurs a networking base to work from, as well as opportunity and access to possible partnerships. I wish to thank the Consul and the Italian community for their participation and encouragment in this initiative," the ambassador said. He also pledged the support of the Italian diplomatic bodies - the embassy, the consulates and the Italian Cultural Institute in Pretoria - in assisting with the formation and completion of the business website. "We Italians are not renowned for our teamwork, but I think in this case (the formation of the website) South Africans can count on us to come together and see this thing through," Donnici told a captivated audience during his speech. Consul Tagliaferri believed that the Italian business community in Cape Town and South Africa has serious potential for further growth. "I hope this initiative can become, in the near future, one of the levers for such growth," he said. Wesgro - the trade, investment and tourism agency in the Western Cape - also offered their support to the business website and invited the Italian community to interact with them should they want to expand their businesses within South Africa, Italy and other foreign countries.