South Africa has further enhanced its status as a world class BPO & O (Business Process Outsourcing & Offshoring) destination at the recent National Outsourcing Association annual conference. The conference held in London formed part of a broader trade mission aimed at attracting BPO investment from the UK.

An esteemed delegation made up of BPeSA Western Cape, BPeSA National, the dti(Department of Trade and Industry), Everest Consultancy, The Business Trust and the private sector; Merchants, Fusion and Aegis attended on behalf of South Africa.

South Africa’s local BPO sector is currently responsible for the employment of 200,000 people. 10,000 of these are foreign based and as a result, there is huge opportunity to build this sector through international markets such as the UK.

BPeSA Western Cape CEO, Gareth Pritchard, says that as a result of the trade mission, South Africa will be one of the main beneficiaries when the BPO industry expands.

“The overall feedback from the trade mission was very positive and went a long way to highlight the quality of both our voice and back office services,” says Pritchard.

“On the back of this I anticipate a number of investors and analysts will be visiting South Africa next year.”

In the last 24 months, five of the top 10 global voice companies have moved to South Africa making it the third largest low cost offshore location for the UK market. Pritchard expects even more companies to move to South Africa and more specifically, Cape Town in 2011.

“The recent success of the BPO industry in the Western Cape is due to the collective work of all our stakeholders including Provincial Government and the City of Cape Town,” adds Pritchard.

South Africa is set to become even more competitive with Government rolling out a new incentive scheme in January 2011, which will cut operational costs by a further 20 percent.  This will allow the country to compete more effectively with larger markets like the Philippines and India.

“Based on the feedback from the trade mission, there is definitive interest in South Africa as a BPO destination,” says Pritchard.

“The growth of the BPO industry in South Africa will lead to social upliftment, job creation and further trade missions with the UK and other global BPO source destinations. As part of our efforts to build on this momentum, a trip to India is planned for February.”