Growth in SA's global business services creates 1000s of new jobs for young people
Business Process Enabling SA reports that over 20 000 new jobs were created in this sector in 2024, with the majority going to youth.
Call centre, customer service. Pexels/Yan Krukau
After the latest unemployment stats showed an increase in joblessness in the first quarter of 2025, some more hopeful news has emerged from South Africa's global business services (GBS) sector.
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The industry body Business Process Enabling SA (BPESA) reports that in 2024, the sector created 20,518 new international jobs and delivered almost R6 billion ($328 million) in export revenue.
'With a skilled, service-oriented workforce and strong public-private collaboration, South Africa continues to offer exceptional value to global partners', BPESA says.
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CEO Reshni Singh confirms that contact centres are central to the GBS sector, which focuses on providing digitally enabled jobs.
South Africa services three markets at the moment - the UK, the US and Australia.
"About 51% of the jobs are servicing the UK market, around 32% the US, and a lesser 6% in Australia."
Reshni Singh, CEO - Business Process Enabling SA
"There are different verticals in terms of customers - utilities in energy top the list; then you have retail and commerce, insurance and telecoms, and then banking and financial."
Reshni Singh, CEO - Business Process Enabling SA
Singh is confident that these jobs won't be cut back by technology, as clients need the human touch and empathy that the bots can't provide.
For more detail, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article