In November 2024, we headed to Johannesburg, South Africa, to attend the annual BPESA BPO & GBS Conference and Alchemy Awards.
Here are the main takeaways from the event and about South Africa as a BPO destination:
🎓 In terms of talent, South Africa has an estimated addressable talent pool of 2.5 million, including over 761,000 English B2 speakers, according to GBS World.
💥 Impact Sourcing is a constant part of the conversation. Around 9 million young people in South Africa are not educated, employed, or in training. The non-profit youth employment accelerator Harambee is deeply committed to changing this, with a target of guiding 500,000 young people into the industry by 2030—just 1% of the global BPO/GBS market share.
📈 Hyperscalers like AWS, Google, SITA, Alibaba, and Microsoft have chosen South Africa as their preferred data center location on the continent.
⚠️ South Africa has been somewhat held back by Africa’s biggest challenge: a blinkered external perception of the continent. International awareness of South Africa’s value is low, and stakeholders know they need to address this. On top of that, some BPOs report that government incentives for market entrants are too complex and shrouded in bureaucracy.
🥲 Growing pains: As the labor pool of agents scales, the availability of middle management talent and above will quickly diminish as demand grows. Resident BPOs will need to focus heavily on training (rapidly) from within.
🤗 South Africans are warm, welcoming, friendly, curious, and great to spend time with (speaking personally). No matter who you meet, it’s noticeable how comfortable people make you feel here. Local people are South Africa's best asset, but they need opportunities to work.
💬 Quote of the week: “Hiring young Africans is good for business.” — Sharmi Surianarain, Chief Impact Officer at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator.
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