Hosting SA’s 20th ICT Summit puts the Eastern Cape and BCM at the centre of the nation’s digital transformation discourse.
For many young people, including myself, the summit has never been just an event. It has been a catalyst, a launchpad, and, for some, a lifeline.
I attended my first ICT Summit in 2017 at a time when I was losing hope about the direction of my life.
I never imagined that a single invitation would change my trajectory so profoundly.
Yet, by simply being present in those rooms, networking, listening, learning, I connected with people who would shape the next decade of my life.
One of them, Xolisa Ndzishe, would become my business partner in ventures that have since created more than 150 jobs across the province.
My story is not an exception. It is the very purpose of the summit.
With this year marking two decades of this flagship gathering, its themes, agenda, and strategic focus areas offer the Eastern Cape a unique window to reposition itself as a driver, not a passenger, in the national digital economy.
Shaping Connected Cities
Day One opens with a roundtable on sustainable data centres and smart infrastructure, drawing leaders from the SA Cities Network, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Salga, and energy and infrastructure experts.
For a province often overlooked in national digital infrastructure investment, this provides clarity on where the Eastern Cape can compete:
• Positioning Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay as cloud and data-centre-ready metros;
• Reducing connectivity costs for government, industry, and SMMEs;
• Supporting emerging BPO and fintech economies; and
•Enabling low-latency networks needed for AI and digital public services.
The province, with the right guidance, could become a regional cloud and digital-services hub for the SADC economic network.
Missed Opportunity No More
The Summit’s focus on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) is directly aligned with the provincial strengths. The zones should be seen as much as digital growth engines as industrial hubs.
Coega and the East London IDZ are not only among the country’s biggest industrial zones—they are strategic assets for digital manufacturing, automation, and cloud-enabled logistics.
The panel featuring leaders from the Coega Development Corporation, Richards Bay SEZ, and the EC Development Corporation underscores this reality: SEZs can power a new wave of digital industrialisation, if we seize the moment. This includes data-driven manufacturers, digital skills pipelines, modernising logistics corridors and incentivising ICT investment in the zones.
Creative Tech, Film and a Cultural Digital Economy
The Summit breaks new ground by elevating the creative technology and film sector.
With speakers from the SA Cultural Observatory, Maxhosa, The Music Arena, and Mpuma Kapa TV Digital, the message is clear: the creative economy is becoming a pillar of the digital economy.
For the Eastern Cape, an expansion of digital storytelling studios could bring support for young creatives using AI tools, and a burst of film and music production anchored in local talent, as well as e-commerce opportunities for township entrepreneurs.
This is a sector where Eastern Cape youth already excel, and the global market has shown it is hungry for authentic African stories.
BPO, public infrastructure and jobs
The business process outsourcing industry is one of SA’s most reliable job creators, and the Eastern Cape has emerged as a quiet powerhouse.
This year’s Summit places BPO at the centre of its agenda, with executives from Business Process Enabling SA, Teleperformance, CAPACITI, MTN, and leading government stakeholders.
The province can build on this momentum with contact centre operations, AI-assisted support services and BPO training academies in rural and peri-urban communities.
Modernising provincial governance could significantly improve service delivery and reduce administrative backlogs, an area where the Eastern Cape urgently needs innovation.
Global thinking Through G20 Digital Economy Insights
One of the strongest parts of this year’s programme is the G20-aligned sessions, focusing on AI governance, global digital policy and inclusive innovation ecosystems for SMME support.
Experts such as Vuyani Jarana, Luvuyo Rani and Juanita Clark bring perspectives that can help shape provincial digital strategies and align them with global best practice.
This is where the Eastern Cape can leapfrog, by adopting the kind of digital policy frameworks that nations use to stimulate economic competitiveness.
Why the ICT Summit Still Matters
In an era of fast-changing technology, some may wonder whether conferences still hold value.
But if the trajectory of my own life, where this summit has been one of the dots that shaped my destiny, is not that rare, then summits like this are not just events.
They are where networks begin -- where ideas find partners.
Where young people find hope.
The Eastern Cape does not suffer from a lack of talent, only a lack of investment and co-ordination. The Summit offers blueprint to change that.
As we celebrate 20 years of the ICT Summit, let us recognise it for what it has become: a provincial asset, a platform for global engagement, and a bridge to a future where the province plays a vital and respected role.
Luvo Grey is the MD and founder of EC Internet
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