If South Africa tries to create the right environment, do you think we could become a startup hub?

This essay got me thinking, and in particular, this bit,

If another country wanted to establish a rival to Silicon Valley, the single best thing they could do might be to create a special visa for startup founders. US immigration policy is one of Silicon Valley's biggest weaknesses
Currently, I don't think we have the environment, or attraction to be able to do this right (am I wrong? any points against this?) Stellenbosch has Technopark which is a small startup hub, and the Pretoria has the Innovation Hub (although I don't know too much about the environment there).

What is required to create a good environment for startups? How do we attract people from all around the world to our country to start businesses?

Here are the things I can think of,

  • Startup friendly legislation (i.e. labour, immigration, ease of creating new companies)
  • Other successful startups
  • Investors
  • Cheap and accessible broadband
  • Abolition of BEE


What can you think of?