One of the first companies to benefit from the Department of Trade and Industry`s (DTI`s) Government Assistance and Support (GAS) programme, TeleTech, has officially started construction of its call centre facilities, in Cape Town.
TeleTech, one of the world`s largest business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, was announced as one of the first GAS beneficiaries earlier this year.
Dr Raymond Ngcobo, chief director of the strategy competitiveness unit for industry and enterprise development at the DTI, spoke at the sod-turning ceremony, at the TeleTech site, this morning. He said the department has granted the US company support grants of between R37 000 and R60 000 for each of the 1 300 call centre seats it is expected to bring to the country.
However, Ngcobo could not be drawn on where in the range of support grants the company falls, saying only it was expected to create at least 100 jobs in the next six months, a task it was "well on the way" to achieving.
In March, the DTI announced it was embarking on the GAS initiative, with the aim of creating 100 000 direct and indirect jobs in the country by the end of 2009.
GAS forms part of the DTI`s broader "BPO&O Sector Support Strategy", which, in turn, forms part of the department`s industrial policy framework. It also partners with the presidential Asgisa programme.
Ngcobo this morning said TeleTech was one of seven companies that have been identified under the GAS programme, but he was not at liberty to divulge details of the other organisations involved in the project.
In a statement released by TeleTech this morning, minister of trade and industry Mandisi Mpahlwa is quoted as saying: "BPO is critical to our economic development strategy and we see TeleTech as an anchor company for this new industry. We are grateful for the commitment TeleTech has made to develop our industry."
TeleTech Africa GM Craig Reines says: "SA is a high quality location linking Africa into the global BPO supply chain."
According to Reines: "We are attracted to the country`s excellent infrastructure, talented and growing labour pool, and the widespread use of English."
Responding to the start of construction on the TeleTech site, deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka`s spokesman, Thabang Chiloane, this morning said: "BPO is one sector that has been identified in Asgisa with a great potential to help reduce the number of unemployed people in this country. It can absorb a lot of people at the same time, who would not need a lot of training, in this regard.
"We are encouraged by this development and also wish to motivate more companies to take this opportunity presented by government through the DTI."
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