CAPE TOWN’S status as the leading tech hub of Africa has given rise to a thriving business process outsourcing (BPO) sector that is boosting the Central City’s night-time economy and providing much-needed job opportunities in the CBD.
Research published in the CCID’s The State of Cape Town Central City Report 2018 – A Year in Review (SCCR) has revealed that over the past decade, the BPO sector in the Cape Town Metropole has been the leading contributor to job growth in the city, which hosts 60% of the country’s BPO centres.
There are 30 call centres in the Cape Town CBD servicing primarily inbound customer services, debt collection services and outbound sales. Eighteen of these are local and 12 international call centres, with the UK accounting for more than half of the SA call centre market.
Says CCID chairperson Rob Kane: “The BPO sector creates jobs for contact centre agents, but also skilled roles in human resources, training, sales and marketing, workforce management, finance, technical and information technology (IT), administration and facilities management.”
BOOSTING THE NIGHT-TIME ECONOMY
It also provides a boost to the Central City’s night-time economy, which is currently an 18-hour-CBD, but is fast moving towards a 24-hour, around the clock downtown, similar to cities such as London and New York, Kane notes.
BPO centres typically operate around the clock, in two shifts – the evening economy, which operates from 18h00 to midnight, and the night-time economy, which runs from midnight to 06h00. These non-traditional working hours give rise to the need for a number of services to run beyond conventional office hours. These include, but are not limited to, transport, safety and access to resources that are usually limited at night, e.g. supermarkets.
Property economist, Associate Prof. Francois Viruly, a partner in a collaborative study between the University of Cape Town’s Urban Real Estate Research Unit and the CCID, points out the 30 000 people who visit the CBD on a typical Saturday night are not only revellers coming to enjoy the city’s entertainment offering, but employees in the entertainment, health services, security and cleaning industries.
While this workforce is the “traditional” backbone of the night-time economy, the BPO sector is adding significantly to the expansion, development and needs of the city after dark.
GROWTH OF THE BPO SECTOR
Over the past four years, the BPO industry in South Africa has grown by approximately 22% annually, which is twice the global growth rate of the industry, says research economist and SCCR researcher Sandra Gordon. This growth can be attributed to factors like good infrastructure, a robust legal system, and mature insurance, banking and telecoms systems.
In Cape Town in particular – traditionally the leading location for global business service deliver – growth has been at around 26%. “Cape Town’s appeal lies in its large and varied talent pool, superior infrastructure and high quality of life,” Sandra points out.
The City of Cape Town has also created an enabling environment for the BPO sector to flourish: it funds Business Process Enabling South Africa (BPESA) and has prioritised other factors, including clean governance, good air access, energy security and a One Stop Shop for investors as part of a package to ensure the city remains investment-ready for the sector
CAPE TOWN LEADS THE WAY
Key factors that inform Cape Town’s appeal as a global BPO centre include:
– Mature location for services delivery: Cape Town is the largest location in SA for international BPO delivery and is gaining global recognition for being a start-up hub (part of Cape Town’s broader recognition as Africa’s digital hub).
– Concerted skills development initiatives in the BPO space: City of Cape Town initiatives and bespoke programmes for developing IT, cloud infrastructure and next-generational digital skills through the CapaCiti initiative.
– Business-ready infrastructure: Cape Town boasts superior infrastructure relative to other cities since instituting the Smart City strategy, which has evolved into the Digital City Strategy focusing on broadband fibre networks and open data portals.
– Talent pools: More than 50 000 relevant degree holders are available for hire at the entry-level each year. Cape Town also has the highest employed talent pool in the global BPO sector at 23 500 full-time employees.
IMAGES: Google