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MARCH 2010

Date posted: 2010-03-01Back to newsletter page

"The stepping down of Sipho Zungu as CEO of BPeSA Western Cape will not affect the organisation’s ability to drive growth for the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, says Fagri Semaar, its interim CEO."

 

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

As of the end of February 2010, I will be stepping down as CEO of BPeSA Western Cape to pursue other business interests.  

I would like to thank all those who have assisted BPeSA Western Cape in contributing to the growth and development of the BPO in the region of the Western Cape.

Despite the impact of the recession during my two and a half years with BPeSA Western Cape, I have seen the industry continue to grow and develop all of which bodes well for the future. With the economy showing signs of recovery and with the World Cup coming to South Africa I can say without a doubt that 2010 will be a successful year for this industry as well.

Fagri Semaar will be taking over as the interim CEO, with Roland Govender serving as interim Chairman of BPeSA Western Cape. I wish both Fagri and Roland well for the future.

NEWS

BPeSA Western Cape set to embrace global upturn

The stepping down of Sipho Zungu as CEO of BPeSA Western Cape will not affect the organisation’s ability to drive growth for the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, says Fagri Semaar, its interim CEO.

Semaar will take over from Zungu as interim CEO, with Roland Govender filling the role of interim Chairman of BPeSA Western Cape.

“The BPO sector has experienced impressive growth over the course of Zungu’s tenure with the province now creating in excess of 30 000 jobs,” says Semaar.

“We are committed to build on this platform and are currently in the process of discussing possible BPO investment opportunities, with three large foreign delegations,” adds Semaar.

Semaar says, the potential investors are impressed by the facilities in the region and is confident it will result in healthy foreign investments.

“We are also involved in getting a number of private companies to attend international trade fairs or stage forays abroad to promote South Africa as a BPO location.”

According to Semaar, despite the growth over the past five years in particular, the recession has definitely had a negative impact on certain industries like financial services.

That means companies must take more responsibility for their own growth, says Govender. “There is a need to work closely with BPeSA and other government agencies such as the DTI and the Services Seta to achieve growth targets,” Govender says. However private companies must be “bold enough to jump on a plane” to attend international trade fairs on their own initiative, he says.

“Some companies have a certain inertia and have been following a specific path. That path now needs to be developed into new niches like serving the health, transport and government sectors so we can achieve our potential on the world stage,” Govender says.

Its members must also pitch their services to more mid-sized local companies too, as well as chasing foreign deals, he says.

“We operate in a highly competitive global environment where every year new countries start offering BPO services. We need to make South Africa more visible and one area that really needs intense work is marketing ourselves as a location. The business is there, but we need to be more aggressive in chasing it.”

“We will continue to drive the industry but we need more proactive participation by our members,” he says.

In 2010 BPeSA Western Cape will step up its support for small, medium and micro enterprises by improving its assistance to emerging operators.

The body receives the majority of its funding from the Provincial Government and the City of Cape Town. BPeSA Western Cape continues to invest heavily in skills development and the creating of job opportunities for the BPO sector.

More focused industrial policy action plan needed

The Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) needs to be more focused on the services sector, the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) said on Friday.

On Thursday, IPAP was unveiled by Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies.

"We certainly welcome the boost of commitment to the second phase of IPAP that promises to support the clothing, textile, footwear, and leather sectors, and its emphasis on local procurement and a strategic trade policy," Fedusa said in a statement.

However, it said there was not enough focus on the development of the service sector which was a vital component of South Africa's economy.

"Fedusa's view is that the money allocated from the national Budget is sufficient in building an industry that can grow the economy but in order to do so we need to ensure that we work smarter and not harder, through a targeted policy that would assist industries within the economy that would be able to sustain themselves in the future ... industries such as the service sector," general secretary Dennis George said.

The creation of jobs to eradicate poverty and to introduce the youth into the jobs market would only benefit the economy if the jobs were sustainable and decent.

"We need to now, more than ever before become more internationally competitive, not only through our manufacturing but very importantly through our service delivery, that is seriously lacking," George said.

"Partly due to its colonial history and diverse demographics South Africa is particularly well-placed to deliver services to large-scale consumer regions such as the United States and Europe, and more specifically the United Kingdom."

He said South Africans had a close cultural bond with the Anglophone countries and therefore services industries such as distance education, telesales, call centres and travel centres could bring enhanced growth to the economy. – Sapa

 Become a successful training provider  

Regardless of the size of your company or what line of work you are in, training is the cornerstone of any successful business. By developing your workforce, you don’t only help grow the individual, but the company as a whole.

This need for training has created a number of opportunities for potential providers, but how does one stand out from the rest.

 Understand the demand

As a training provider our primary role is education, but without a good understanding of the business, you are destined to fail. Be willing to look at the bigger picture, what is your primary and secondary role and how can you best fill the gap?

If you are working with large financial organisations at least have a basic understanding of the industry, what are the different job roles, where is the biggest need for training and why? Far too often companies just come in asking for training and to be honest sometimes it’s not needed.

Strong Relationships

A fundamental to any successful business is developing and fostering long term relationships.

People buy people, if you are looking to stand out from the rest, start here. Once you create a successful working relationship it becomes far easier to get buy in from clients. A close working relationship promotes effective two way communication and allows the training provider to become fully integrated with the business.

Customisation

One of the sectors that our company focuses on is the call centre industry. At face value one centre might appear to have the same training needs as another, but on closer inspection they are actually completely different. For example, there is a huge difference between debt collecting and customer service.

If you are creating a training offering be willing to customise it. One of our most successful partners in the call centre industry, BPeSA Western Cape recently changed the structure of their Leanership Programme to focus on providing a customised solution for its partner companies.

This benefits both the company and the learner, as they are viewed as experts in the field when they leave. This targeted approach might be more time consuming initially, but in the long term it saves time and improves productivity.

Understand your market

When presenting a proposal to a potential client, don’t take for granted that they all expect the same level of interaction. In one city an email with an attachment might be the way things are done, while in another city a face to face meeting is critical. 

Don’t just adapt your offering for overseas clients; provide a customised solution to each company and region.

Grow the team

As an SMME we don’t have the luxury sometimes of having one person who can focus on training in isolation. On any given day I might be required to fill the role of a trainer, coach, assessor and moderator. For this reason I promote training and education among my team.

This prevents problematic situations occurring if I am unavailable. By relying to heavily on one person you are putting yourself at risk. Be willing to cross pollinate and learn from one another.

Education is vital to the growth and development of South Africa. As a training provider it is our responsibility to ensure this happens. As that famous Chinese proverb says, give a man a fish you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

 

EVENTS

Upcoming Events in March:

Lessons Learnt from the Recession (Date to be confirmed)

Come learn from industry experts about business lessons learnt from the recession and strategies to combat it.

Networking Session with Minister Alan Winde (31/03/2010)

BPeSA Western Cape will be hosting a networking session with leaders of BPO centres on the 31 March 2010 to address pertinent industry issues. The Keynote Speaker for the event, Minister Alan Winde will be discussing Provincial Government’s BPO strategy for the Western Cape in 2010.  Please contact our Stakeholder Relations Manager, Nicky Floris for details.

MEMBERSHIP

For any membership enquiries please contact our Stakeholder Relations Manager, Nicky Floris: 021 630 1500 / nicky@bpesawesterncape.co.za

Have a great month everyone ! 101 Days to Kick Off!

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