South Africa has a similar number of call centers to Belgium. It is only 20% smaller than the Netherlands (Mitial Research Benelux Location Survey 2000). It has more than twice as many call centers as both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland combined (Mitial Research Isle of Ireland Country Report 2002). The South African installed base is also bigger than the Scottish and Welsh bases combined (Mitial Research UK Country Report Dec 2001).

Besides the 20+ seat call centers in this study, there are approximately 125 Pocket Call Centers in South Africa. There are many more units using telephones, but most are not dedicated to taking and making calls.

A key feature of the South African call centre market has been that large local companies have built up their call centre businesses over a 5-7 year period. These include finance houses Old Mutual, First National Bank, Standard Bank, Nedcor and ABSA, as well as Telkom's own call centers of which there are 15.

Johannesburg and the areas of Rivonia and Sandton are where many of South Africa's IT businesses are located. Cape Town has the second biggest concentration of call centers with 15% of the installed base or 62 sites.

Durban CBD is home to several call centers and is in receipt of major infrastructure investment. Citibank recently moved a non-call centre business into the CBD. Umhlanga Ridge and Mount Edgcombe are part of a major call centre development out of town which is home to Blake's (a debt recovery business) and also MTN (the cellular operator).

Port Elizabeth has three call centers operating in the city, but Vodacom is the only significant known facility. 11% of the industry is spread over the rest of the country.

Affordable Labor
Labor costs in South Africa are internationally competitive. Labor costs per worker in the manufacturing sector also compare favorably with other countries and are substantially lower than those in the USA, the UK, Singapore, Israel, Ireland and Germany.

The call center labor costs for top candidates are as follows:
R32.00 per hour (@US$5) Entry level
R48.00 per hour 1 year experience with good communication skills
R90.00 – R110.00 per hour Team leader / Supervisor
R300.00 – R330.00 per hour Call Centre Manager
Source: Emmanuels Staffing Services (Pty) Ltd., 2003

South Africa meets all call center requirements, such as educated labor and first-world telecommunications infrastructure, along with political and economic stability.

For more information on doing business in SA and other enquiries, call us at +1.917.340.8987 USA, +27.82.420.4260 RSA or email info@azaniapr.com