Eden connects 2010 tourism

By Siyabonga Africa, ITWeb junior journalist

Johannesburg, 12 Mar 2009

EdenConnect Outsource Call Centre has won a 2010 Fifa World Cup Soccer tender to provide call centre services to the tourism industry of George, in the Western Cape.

The tender, worth an undisclosed amount, will run from the beginning of the Confederations Cup, which takes place in June, through to the main tournament being played next year.

“We will be providing a hotline service to the local tourism industry, including hotels, bed and breakfasts and travel agents,” says EdenConnect MD Karin Kruger.

The recently opened call centre offers a much cheaper alternative to call centres located in Cape Town and Johannesburg, she claims. EdenConnect leverages its skills base from the Eden district community, which has a 60% unemployment rate.

“Most of the residents in the community have matriculated and some even have a tertiary education. We have access to good infrastructure, both in terms of telecoms, through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and our roads and close proximity to the airport, which connects us to the international market.”

High hopes

EdenConnect was funded partly by the Western Cape provincial government and by the CSIR, which is the custodian of the Rural Economic Assistant Fund. Kruger says the main sponsors of the call centres, Dr Colin Katzen and Gerald Mentor, helped convince the Western Cape government to invest R2 million in the call centre.

“We hope to meet the initial investment in five years' time and this is with operational costs of more than R100 000 per month,” says Kruger.

"The call centre employs 10 people so far and has the capacity to employ about 30 call agents. As business grows, so will the staff complement," says CSIR Enterprise Creation for Development project manager Mxolisi Miller.

A CSIR statement says EdenConnect has already signed up clients such the Eden district municipality, Total Client Services, Independent Newspapers and Autopage. The call centre expects to make further revenue out of inbound and debt collection services.

Miller says call centres have been identified by government as priority areas through the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for SA and government's development strategy for the Western Cape.