Pretoria – Over 30 000 jobs have been created by the Business Process Services (BPS) Incentive Scheme, the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) said on Tuesday.
The objective of the BPS scheme is to create employment opportunities, particularly for the young people of South Africa, through servicing offshore activities.
“To achieve this, we have created more than 30 000 jobs by supporting 43 companies through the BPS at a cost of almost R1 billion. About 86% of the jobs are for the youth,” said the dti’s Chief Operating Officer for Incentives Administration, Susan Mangole.
Briefing members of the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry on Tuesday, Mangole said the jobs have been created since the scheme’s inception in 2011.
The Portfolio Committee visited one of the beneficiaries of the scheme, Conduent, a company which is based in Sandton, Johannesburg. The Parliamentary Committee is on a two-day oversight visit to companies that have received funding from the dti.
Addressing Members of Parliament at the company premises, Conduent’s Senior General Manager, Jim Beatie, said his company is grateful for the support provided by the department.
Conduent, one of the largest business process services companies in the world, was funded by the dti for more than R10 million in a project that will create 1 600 jobs over a five-year period.
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Joan Fubbs, said the purpose of the site visit to the dti-funded companies was to assess how funds that the department disburses are making an impact.
“We would like to get first-hand information from the beneficiaries themselves on how the incentives are applied, whether they achieve their objectives, as well as the challenges companies could be experiencing,” said Fubbs.
Mangole said the BPS industry, which has been identified by government through the Industrial Policy Action Plan as one of the country’s key job drivers, has been growing at an average of 26% annually since 2011.
Internationally, South Africa is recognised as a leading offshore destination for business process services with its highly competitive costs, deep domain skills, English-speaking talent and world-class infrastructure.
In November last year, South Africa won the Offshoring Destination of the Year Award from the Global Sourcing Association in London.
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