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Johannesburg - While First National Bank (FNB) is basking in the successful conclusion of an exclusive agreement to bring PayPal to South Africa, some players in the IT sector feel they have been snubbed by the bank, saying they also had a role to play.
Much of this has to do with the exclusion of the Silicon Cape technology community, which makes up the cream of the crop in terms of funders and technology innovators in South Africa.
The community, which was put together with much fanfare in 2009 by high-profile venture capitalists Vinny Lingham and Justin Stanford, has been aiming to position Cape Town as a hub for technology innovation and investment.
With many of the entrepreneurs involved in the 2 300 strong Silicon Cape community having been vocal about bringing PayPal to South Africa, they feel they have been snubbed by FNB when it comes to the rollout.
There are also complaints that FNB's Cape Town launch of PayPal next week clashes with a major Silicon Cape networking event, forcing people to choose between backing an innovative technology product or using their time to contribute to the Silicon Cape function.
Leading technology blogger Christopher Mills has in recent week slammed the steering committee behind Silicon Cape for failing to engage with FNB around the PayPal launch.
Events clash rises hackles
Mills also berated the clash of events, saying: "On one hand, if you're interested in the Silicon Cape initiative, VC [venture capital] funding and basically forming a foundation for technology in Cape Town, the Silicon Cape event would be best for you.
"On the other hand, if you want to know more about payment gateways and the possibilities that PayPal and FNB will be bringing to South Africa, the PayPal FNB event would be best."
FNB CEO Michael Jordaan downplayed any tension between the parties, saying that FNB actively seeks to engage with Silicon Cape and its members. He indicated that FNB had offered to sponsor a future event.
Stanford, a leading venture capitalist and steering committee representative for Silicon Cape, refused to be drawn on the issue when contacted by Fin24.com. "The events committee tried hard to roll the two [events] into one," was all he was prepared to say.
However, technology sector representatives involved with Silicon Cape who spoke to Fin24.com at PayPal's Johannesburg launch on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction with the way the rollout had been handled.
They said more could have been done to bring the two parties together, and that FNB was focusing too much on using a technology which was a "strong enabler of e-commerce" as an FNB product.
However, speaking to Fin24.com after the Paypal launch, Jordaan said: "We continue to see Silicon Cape as an important group to interact with as they are likely to be the early adopters of this technology."
- Fin24.com