Business Process Outsourcing sector contributes R35 Billion to SA economy

South Africa and the Western Cape in particular, is a destination of choice for many respected and market-leading global business process outsourcing (BPO) companies. Many of these businesses base some of their global operations here in the Western Cape, where they employ, train and upskill tens of thousands of local South Africans to provide world-class professional business services to clients across the world.

According to CapeBPO, the Western Cape’s strategic business partner responsible for the growth and development of the BPO industry, for every offshore BPO job based in South Africa, R350 000 of foreign revenue is injected into our economy.

“This means that for the approximately 100 000 BPO jobs country wide, the majority of which (approximately 60 000) are right here in the Western Cape, R35 billion goes into our national economy. The value that our talented people contribute on the world’s stage is impressive,” explained Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger.

“The growth of the BPO sector in the Western Cape is a testament to the hard work and perseverance put into the promotion and mobilisation of the industry by our private and public sector stakeholders. The investment in skills development has created a steady and world-class supply of talent to cater to the clear international demand, supported through our agile public/private partnership between our local and provincial government partners (the City of Cape Town and Western Cape Government) and our Operator community. Based on our shared vision to enable meaningful careers, we are tackling the challenge of unemployment head on, with each job created contributing to a solution we as proud South Africans want to see manifested,” added CEO of CapeBPO, Clayton Williams.

The Western Cape Government’s (WCG) ambitious economic plan of action, ‘Growth for Jobs’ is focussed on enabling the private sector to grow and create jobs.

“As the WCG, we are immensely proud to partner, through our dedicated programmes, with the determined and dedicated people investing in the BPO sector. BPO is a thriving and growing industry that must be nurtured if we are to enable the private sector to establish, expand and – critically – employ many more hundreds of thousands of South Africans. At the end of the day, this is why we do what we do – to give more South Africans, and particularly our young people, the opportunities they need to live up to their full potential,” concluded Minister Wenger.