Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies will, on Friday, launch the revised Global Business Process Services Incentive Scheme, while on a trip to London, in the UK.

The launch of the revised incentive further supports and enhances South Africa’s value proposition, catalysing new investments in this sector and supporting employment opportunities for South Africans.

South Africa’s industrial policy action plan has identified the business process services sector as a key contributor to economic growth and job creation.

Davies noted in a statement issued on Tuesday that, since 2009, the programme has resulted in annualised growth of 22% year-on-year and led to the employment of more than 38 600 full-time equivalents servicing international markets.

“The success of the sector has been a result of a coordinated approach encompassing a close relationship between government, industry body Business Process Enabling South Africa (BPeSA) and investors such as Capita, Webhelp and ComputerCenter.

“South Africa’s business process sector is globally recognised and provides services to the UK, Australia and the US. South Africa received further acknowledgement in the sector by receiving the coveted Offshoring Destination of 2018 award by the Global Sourcing Association,” boasted Davies.

He added that South Africa could quadruple its global market share to 4% by 2030 and add about R100-billion ($8.7-billion) to gross domestic product.  

The industry continues to develop innovative and integrated omni-channel offerings to service clients in international markets, generating export revenues for South Africa.

The sector has transitioned from its base of contact centre services to now offering services in medium to highly complex and qualitative functions across finance and accounting, analytics, legal, health and information communication technology technical support.

Davies stated that the launch of the Global Business Process Services Incentive Scheme supports the strategic objectives of government and builds upon the achievements attained in the sector in terms of foreign direct investment, employment creation primarily for youth, export revenue generation and transformation.

The Department of Trade and Industry, together with BPeSA, will host an investment roundtable with key UK clients to facilitate new investments in this sector.