E-applications and value-added services will see Africa emerge as a major contact centre hub, with significant concentrations in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius and SA.
This was one of the micro-trend findings that emerged at the Frost & Sullivan congress, which took place in Cape Town last week.
The business research and consulting firm's Growth, Innovation and Leadership Congress also revealed the African continent will become a place where 70% of all banking transactions, $300 billion in value, will be done using mobile technology.
Frost & Sullivan said growth and innovation do not follow a linear path, since societies, markets and cultures are constantly responding to a range of forces that cause them to shift and adapt.
Understanding these forces and their implications give businesses a more solid foundation for strategic decision-making, and should help to accelerate the growth rate of companies.
The congress highlighted micro-trends within various mega-trends, one being the ICT sector in Africa, and the mega-trend of connectivity and its implications for growth going forward.
Within this framework, another micro-trend prediction for Africa is that by 2020, there will be 525 million smartphones, 62 million laptops and 490 000 tablets in use on the continent. These numbers are significantly higher than the present situation. In this context, SA will be the largest single market, according to Frost & Sullivan.
By 2025, Africa is predicted to have the second-largest number of urban occupants, 660 million, more than 50% up from the current 412 million.
Frost & Sullivan recognised three South Africans at the congress, for their leadership and innovative capabilities. Wendy Luhabe, founder of Wiphold; Richard Maponya, entrepreneur and 'father' of the Maponya Mall in Soweto; and entrepreneur and Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth received awards.
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