Western Cape Business 2018 edition

OVERVIEW

OVERVIEW Business Process Outsourcing Cape Town leads in offshore jobs. A total of 222 500 jobs in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) exist in South Africa, according to the 2016 BPESA Key Indicator Report. Of that total, offshore clients account for 32 500 jobs. Sixty-three percent of the offshore market is in the Western Cape where the provincial government has identified BPO as one of the six key sectors that can create jobs quickly. Business Process enabling South Africa (BPeSA) is the national organisation with representation in the nation’s three biggest cities. Because of the rapid growth of the industry, the organisation is undertaking a restructuring process with input from several bodies, including the Contact Centre Management Group and the National Department of Trade and Industry (dti). A new board of directors and CEO should be in place by the end of February 2018. BPO involves any internal businesses that a company chooses to outsource to a specialist in that field, for example accounting or call centres (also known as customer service centres). One interesting example relates to loading an aeroplane’s freight load – in Frankfurt. The loader does this in the Western Cape via remote cameras and weighing machines. After work the loader can visit the beach. The national Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, says that the local BPO sector has had compounded growth since 2012 of 25% year-on-year. Within the Western Cape sector, 63% of companies are involved in inbound customer service work; back office accounts for 13.8% and debt collection at 9.1%. UK shop Asda and online retailer Amazon have large customer service centres in Cape Town. The fact that greater Cape Town is home to three well-regarded universities, a university of technology and two technical colleges is ONLINE RESOURCES Business Process enabling South Africa (BPeSA): www.bpesa.co.za Contact Centre Management Group: www.ccmg.org.za National Department of Trade and Industry: www.dti.gov.za Wesgro: www.wesgro.co.za SECTOR INSIGHT A strong tertiary education sector attracts investors. a major advantage in attracting companies with sophisticated operations, such as BPO. A director of a British business intelligence company, S-RM, told the Weekend Argus that Cape Town’s position as a “knowledge nexus” was a major factor in deciding to open an office in the city. Other factors in favour of Cape Town are the relatively neutral accents, good infrastructure (financial and telecommunications) and the time zone being the same or close to Europe’s. The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) offers incentives to BPO investors. A base incentive is calculated on projected offshore jobs to be created and is awarded on actual offshore jobs created. The incentive has a twotier structure non-complex and complex jobs and is paid over a five-year period. A bonus incentive becomes payable at the end of the five-year period. WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018 120

ICT OVERVIEW French technology has come to Cape Town A new technology venture was launched when Cape Town hosted AfricArena 2017, a conference that aimed to be a “bridge between international technology stalwarts and African technology innovators”. A collaboration between Silicon Cape and La French Tech Cape Town, it brought together investors, venture capitalists, start-ups and entrepreneurs. The French government has officially designated the city as one of six global French Tech Hubs. Other hubs include Tokyo and San Francisco. French Tech Labs was launched as a fintech incubator at Century City in 2016. The same company earlier established Methys Labs. The new incubator offers mentoring support for innovators, connections to possible investors and a chance for selected candidates to travel to France. News of a R613-million investment by Dutch seed company Enza Zaden helped earn Stellenbosch a ranking of third among African cities in fDi Intelligence’s study of global biotech locations. The Dutch investors created Westcape Biotech in a joint venture with Expressive Research, a biotechnological company that works on cell culture and molecular diagnostics. Stellenbosch also has a strong suite in satellite technology. One of the winners in the annual Premier’s Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards in 2016 was Stellenbosch-based Praelexis, a data company. NewSpace Systems, a satellite start-up from Somerset West, was another winner. Stellenbosch University has a company, Innovus, which deals in technology transfer and development of inventions. Another popular area with new technology is fintech. Most major banks are feeling pressure from new companies who can connect with customers without having to build bricks and mortar infrastructure. They are responding by spending heavily on innovation. Barclays Bank have invested in a fintech incubator in Cape Town, Rise. There are six other Rise sites around the world, including New York and Mumbai. ONLINE RESOURCES Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative: www.citi.org.za French South African Tech Labs: fsatlabs.co.za Independent Communications Authority: www.icasa.org.za Silicon Cape: www.siliconcape.com State Information Technology Agency: www.sita.co.za SECTOR INSIGHT • Stellenbosch and satellites are synonymous. It was a banking application (app) that won the IT Challenge presented by Standard Bank in 2015. Three students from the University of the Western Cape created a voice-activated online banking app which they called EasyBank. A group of entrepreneurs, investors and developers has created the non-profit Silicon Cape Initiative to support the sector. One of its groups, the Startup Group, has 425 members and it offers advice and support. The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi) is another support system for the ICT sector. It runs three programmes, The Bandwidth Barn, VeloCiTi (enterprise and entrepreneur development) and Capaciti (tech skills and job placement). There are 2 000 ICT firms in the Western Cape and they have 17 000 employees. 121 WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018