Cape Town`s call centre industry is set to create at least 1 000 new jobs this year, according to Luke Mills, executive director of development agency Calling the Cape.
There are around 120 call centres in the Cape Town area, which collectively employ 10 000 people.
Calling the Cape, which promotes the Western Cape as a destination for national and international investors, is hosting international delegations at the rate of about one a week.
Mills says that of the 30 potential investors who have visited this year, three are in talks with Calling the Cape to set up new call centres or back-office processing facilities.
At the same time, outsourcers - who host call centres on behalf of other companies - are growing at a rate of about 30% every three months, with much of their new business coming from overseas. Interest is coming predominantly from the UK, as well as the Netherlands, the US and Canada.
"This rapid growth means call centre careers are becoming an increasingly attractive option, especially since many young Capetonians currently have to leave for Johannesburg or overseas to find work in other sectors," Mills says.
A recent study by a University of Cape Town academic found that unemployment rates for young people with tertiary qualifications were over 15% in 2002. This finding is borne out by the fact that of around 800 IT graduates in and around Cape Town last year, only an estimated 10% found work locally.
Skills shortages at management level in many of the call centre companies mean that those with some experience and leadership ability are likely to reap handsome rewards.
South African call centre agents are particularly highly regarded for having a good "customer touch". Recent international investors have also commented on South Africans` clear accents, enthusiasm, willingness to learn and high productivity.
Local language skills, in English and Afrikaans, are also a plus. A group of Afrikaans speakers was recently put through three months training in Dutch, and is now handling customer service queries for a travel company in the Netherlands. After four months, the local team is reported to be performing at least as well as the Netherlands-based call centre it is supplementing.
"The Western Cape offers a world-beating combination of price and productivity," Mills says. "We`re set to capture a respectable portion of the global market in the next five years."
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