Elon Musk
Image: Allison ROBBERT / AFP
The unspoken word in South Africa is that the SA tech community loves you. Many are filled with pride that someone who once walked the South African streets has managed to shape the global tech environment.
Many cannot wait for Tesla cars to run around the country's streets. Many would welcome your intervention in the country’s innovation ecosystem.
These are South African’s who are behind some of the leading fintech, healthtech, transport tech and edtech companies. Some of them are based in Silicon Valley.
The love and admiration for you in South Africa goes beyond the technology community; even the government is fond of you. If you are doubtful, just check the number of government leaders on X platform in South Africa. No matter what you say (good or bad) about the country, no one even dreams about shutting X down. The right to the existence of your business is guaranteed in the country’s laws. Leaders enjoy using X.
Tech culture is alive in South Africa. The country has tech, venture capitalists and startups that are solving local issues. The tech ecosystem is led and driven by people who attended schools similar to the one you attended in Pretoria. They dominate the founder community in South Africa.
The South African society broadly loves US tech companies. Just check the adoption of Apple, Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), Microsoft, IBM, and Google in South Africa.
All of these US tech companies have some form of presence in the country without granting any form of ownership to any person. Instead, some of them have committed to upskilling the underprivileged (those who were denied opportunities in the past). They understand that such an approach makes business sense.
They know that without a population that is not tech savvy, their businesses would not exist. It therefore makes no sense to leave the majority in society behind while tech businesses are moving ahead with innovation.
For the US tech businesses that already have a presence, there has never been a feeling that they cannot operate just because of who their leaders are. I have no doubt you would want to ensure generations to come will be able to use your products in South Africa.
You can ensure that the majority of South Africans can become users of your products by upskilling them now.
I know it would be hard to believe all of this without personally witnessing it yourself. Please ask Roelof Botha, another global tech leader, who just visited South Africa.
If you still can’t believe him, I invite you to visit South Africa in 2026. Come and meet leading SA tech companies as well as their leaders.
Come and see for yourself that US tech companies dominate in South Africa without the need to handover ownership but through the empowerment of local people.
Come prepared to adhere to local laws in the same way that you do in other countries where your company are in operation. Bear in mind, however, that South Africans have options now. Chinese tech companies are also offering value. Electric vehicles from China are already filling the streets of South Africa.
Soon, South Africans may commit to using Qianfan, the Chinese answer to Starlink. Even Jeffs, Project Kuiper, may become a preferred service provider in future if you continue to believe untruth about SA.
For now, SA is open to do business with you.
Yours sincerely,
Wesley Diphoko
Editor-In-Chief of FastCompany (SA) magazine - a publication based in the US with SA presence.