In March 2011, Mthente was invited by the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) to assist the Gauteng Department of Economic Development to develop the Gauteng Trade and Investment Policy Framework, the Gauteng Trade and Investment Strategy and the Gauteng Trade and Investment Implementation Plan.

The Gauteng province is in many respects the economic engine of Southern Africa and is responsible for a large share of the region’s output of tradeable goods. Gauteng accounts for roughly one third of the South African economy and contributes as much as 10 percent of the African continent’s total gross domestic product (GDP). The province is also widely regarded as the gateway to doing business on the rest of the continent. Given this central position, the province’s trade and investment policies are critically important, not least as mechanisms for generating sustained economic growth and development.

Within this context, the Gauteng Trade and Investment Policy Framework is expected to provide policy direction towards achieving the province’s developmental objectives through boosting trade and investment. The Policy Framework is also expected to give expression to the province’s new growth path focused on the beneficiation and exporting of sophisticated value added manufactured goods.

Mthente’s methodology includes a comprehensive desktop research phase, which will be complemented by an extensive process of stakeholder engagement involving both one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders and workshops with representatives of important stakeholder groupings.