One of the United Kingdom’s fastest-growing insurance companies, the Budget Group, has announced its decision to set up a call centre in Cape Town, in an investment valued at R100-million.
The Budget Group has strong and close ties with South Africa’s Auto & General insurance company.
Unveiling the investment on Tuesday, Ebrahim Rasool, Western Cape provincial minister for finance and economic development, welcomed the move, saying there was “nothing sentimental” about Budget Group’s decision.
“This was first and foremost a smart business decision, and it speaks volumes for the state of the call centre industry in Cape Town, which is capable of attracting such investors,” he noted.
“This investment will create 200 new direct jobs and goes a long towards meeting the target we have set ourselves of creating 100Â 000 new jobs in the Western Cape over the next five years.
“Also in line with our growth and development strategy objectives, the R100-million investment by Budget insurance is a significant contribution to our five-year target of attracting R5-billion in new investment into the Western Cape economy.”
The call-centre industry in Cape Town comprises more than 70 companies, operating 160 call centres, and employing more than 7Â 000 people directly, with thousands more jobs in support industries.
Cape Town offers incoming investors robust technology and infrastructure, first-class service providers and skilled staff at what Rasool described as a “significant” price advantage compared with the UK, Europe and the United States.
“These advantages have not gone unnoticed by local companies either,” the minister continued. “Telkom, Engen and Absa have long maintained call-centre facilities in this city servicing the domestic market. In addition, Capetonians now handle incoming calls for Lufthansa, as well as speaking to customers all over the globe for a number of outsource service providers.
“Only last Friday, a new call centre opened in Bellville. It’s one of the first call centres handling incoming calls from Dutch consumers, using Afrikaans speakers who have received intensive language coaching in the Dutch language. This is a first for South Africa, and we expect very dynamic growth in this sector of the market.”
The provincial government has been working in partnership with the Western Cape’s investment promotion agency, Wesgro, the call-centre industry and the Services Seta to ensure that a qualifications framework, specifically designed for call centres, is developed.
In the 2003 mid-year budget the provincial ministry of finance set aside R32,5-million to be used for learnerships in this and other sectors.
“Recent international research has suggested that, over the next few years, more than $100-billion of services business will be outsourced from the developed world to cheaper, offshore destinations. We are determined to capture a significant share of that business,” Rasool concluded. — I-Net Bridge