Outsourcing specialist Sigma has launched its first contact centre in Cape Town township, Mitchells Plain, to solely serve domestic clients.
With the contact centre in the Cape Flats area in Mitchells Plain, Sigma says the move makes it the first global business services operation in the Western Cape to provide contact centre solutions from a township.
Sigma’s new venture will support businesses in the telecoms, retail, insurance and financial services sectors, and is expected to create 1 000 jobs for locals.
Business process outsourcing (BPO) has been identified as one of the green shoots that will steer economic recovery post-COVID-19.
The BPO industry is targeting 500 000 new jobs by 2030, based on industry estimates.
Commenting on Sigma’s latest move to create local jobs, MD David Neale says: “We are very proud to be the first-ever global business services operation to establish ourselves in the Cape Flats area of Mitchells Plain, taking the job opportunities to where the workforce is.
“This will cut down on the need for costly travel for them and also enable us to support the community where our employees live.
“Working in partnership with Shadow Careers, we have created over 120 new jobs already, and the ultimate aim is to triple in size by growing existing business and winning new contracts across the country – adding more than a thousand new jobs over the next three years.
“It is part of Sigma’s ethos to provide jobs for local people, and we have built up an amazing team already. As we grow the business going forward, we will recruit through Impact Sourcing so we can provide employment opportunities for the excluded youth and people from disadvantaged backgrounds who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to work in this environment.”
Shadow Careers is an initiative that seeks to provide work opportunities for “excluded and unemployed” people aged 18 to 34.
Franco Cotumaccio, co-founder of Shadow Careers, says: “Shadow Careers is delighted that its partner in Impact Sourcing, Sigma Connected, has shared in the innovative vision of placing its business closer to the homes of its people, by extending their operations to Mitchells Plain.
“With offices in the same building, we look forward to supporting them in this next stage of their growth by sourcing high-potential talent to support and sustainably uplift youth employment in these previously excluded communities.”
Gary Gilburd, CEO of the Sigma Connected Group, says the group is expanding at a fast pace on an international scale and the same is happening in SA, where its growth continues.
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