Eastern Cape
South Africa
Sector
Call Centres & Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
Extensive labour advantages, coupled with a focused, integrated growth strategy, have positioned the Eastern Cape to take full advantage of phenomenal growth in the call centre industry. Nationally, the industry has more than doubled in size over the past two years, exceeding even the most optimistic predictions. This is creating huge investment and job creation opportunities throughout the country.
The Eastern Cape, boasting an attractive bouquet of competitive advantages, is uniquely positioned to capitalise on these opportunities, says Abu Abdullatief, Sector Manager: Tourism & Call Centres with the Eastern Cape Development Corporation. Apart from offering potential investors all the benefits associated with the formal economies of its two urban anchors, Port Elizabeth and East London, labour costs in the Eastern Cape are between 60 and 80% lower than comparable indicators for either Gauteng or the Western Cape. 'As a result, start-up costs – in this and most other industries – are generally accepted to be among the most competitive in the country,” he said.
Call centres in the province have been proven to have a high level of staff stability. Consequently, the Eastern Cape call centre industry boasts an unusually high sector-specific skills base, with a large pool of expertise and experience available. 'In essence, Eastern Cape call centre agents stay in their jobs longer, and demonstrate lower attrition rates than agents in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KZN.'
A recent report by the Ion Group, which polled many of the UK's top 1 000 companies for their ideal offshore location, ranked South Africa ahead of India, Mexico and the Philippines. Ion Group Managing Director Graham Ede is quoted by the web news source South Africa Online as saying: 'Locations which have been popular for offshore outsourcing in the past primarily due to their low operating costs are now facing increased demands from clients and their customers for high quality call handling standards, a robust technological infrastructure and multi-lingual capabilities. Increased competition has seen emerging locations such as South Africa not only able to meet these demands, but offer the advantage of having a similar time-zone and culture to the United Kingdom.'
Mindful of these opportunities, the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) and the provincial Department of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs have made a strategic decision to grow the call centre industry in the province.
The Eastern Cape is able to offer potential call centre investors a wide range of alternatives with regard to their property requirements, he said. In addition, commercial and industrial property prices remain considerably lower than most other urban centres, and, unlike Johannesburg and Cape Town, where suitable property is at a premium, office space remains readily available. Potential investors therefore are guaranteed assistance, as well as access to ECDC’s extensive market expertise.
“All of these factors combine to situate the Eastern Cape as one of the major growth nodes of South Africa’s booming call centre industry.”
For more information, contact the ECDC call centre department:
Tel: +27 43 743 5600
Email: nmtana@ecdc.co.za
