CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Amazon, the United States retail giant has announced that it would be opening its first African office in South Africa with a real estate investment of over R4 billion (about US$275 million).
The announcement came just a week after Twitter choose to open its first African office in Ghana.
Authorities in Cape Town noted that Amazon would be occupying a new development in River Club, a prime section of the city. This new development will create 5,239 jobs in the construction phase alone, along with 19,000 indirect and induced jobs.
The 15-hectare parcel of land will cost R4 billion and include two sections. Authorities said the first precinct of 60,000sqm will occupy different layers of development; while the second section of 70,000 will hold Amazon headquarters in Africa.
A Cape Town city spokesman said: “The development is envisaged to take place in phases, with construction set to take place over three to five years.
“It is clear that this development offers many economic, social and environmental benefits for the area. We’re committed to driving investment to revitalise the economy, which is slowly recovering following the impact of Covid-19.”
Amazon already launched its data centres for Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Cape Town but its eCommerce services had until now not been available in Africa.
