South Africa declared as Top Global Business Services Sector location: Report

In the Annual Front Office BPO Omnibus Survey on Thursday, South Africa has been declared as the winner of the Most Favoured Offshore CX Delivery Location for 2021, according to a report by IOL. 

As per the award, the country has been ranked as the best global location for business process services. 

The official account for the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition also took it to Twitter and declared South Africa a rapidly expanding place for business process services.

South Africa has won an award as the top global location for business process services, in a sector that is rapidly expanding locally and exporting call-centre and related services to other parts of the world.

— the dtic (@the_dti) April 9, 2021

Speaking on the achievement, Ebrahim Patel, the Minister of Trade and Industry said in a statement that "the rapid expansion of business process services is a tribute to the skills of young South Africans and evidence of what South Africa has to offer as a business and investment destination.”

Ranked number two last year, South Africa has beaten stiff competition from India, Philippines, Malaysia, Poland, Egypt and Northern Ireland to claim the top award for the first time.

— the dtic (@the_dti) April 9, 2021

It stated that the sectoral growth of the country was interrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, however, after regulating guidelines in times of lockdown the country enabled call centers to support global and local essential services. 

“Further support was provided by the Presidential Jobs Fund during the pandemic. Together with the department of trade industry and competition incentives, the jobs fund supported 14 300 new jobs in the sector with R1.9 billion in export revenue,” it added.

Patel further said that the sector is a large and growing employer of labor as he stated, "the ‘re-imagined industrial strategy’ outlined by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2019 laid the basis for growing established sectors (like clothing, poultry, sugar, and steel) and emerging or new sectors (such as call centers, the green economy, and digital industries)."

It noted that the industries in the country believed to poses even higher growth rates in the coming years.

"The industry has set its sights on supporting employment and investment by growing the export segment of the business services sector to employ tens of thousands of new workers in the next few years," the statement read.