New South African initiative to create conducive environment to multinationals

By Zibonele Ntuli

PRETORIA, South Africa- SA Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka says the interventions of the government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (Asgi-SA) strategy will create a conducive environment for multinational companies to do business in the country.
Addressing the launch of the IBM Integrated Delivery Centre in Johannesburg on Monday, Mlambo-Ngcuka said the role of Asgi-SA was to “listen to the challenges faced by government’s private partners and remove bottlenecks” so as to attract the foreign investment needed for the strategy’s 6% economic growth target.
“Our challenge is to normalise the cost of doing business and address skills shortages,” she said.
Mlambo-Ngcuka said the government would also invest in foreign languages and the skills required to increase the country’s economic growth in tourism, agriculture and call centers. She added that South Africa’s call centre sector was an Asgi-SA priority and had already attracted 5 000 jobs from the rest of the world.
She said the IBM Centre complemented the country’s objectives of economic growth and applauded the company in boosting the country’s infrastructure by developing critical technical skills and creating jobs.
IBM is one of the world’s largest information technology companies offering a range of services, solutions and technologies. The company announced on Friday it would that boost employment at its South African call centre by 900 people this year.
The centre already employs more than 500 people and has been in operation for a year. It provides professional IT services to customers from South Africa, Europe and the US.
CEO Mark Harris said the centre would provide “cross functional support services” such as server installation, support, monitoring, and maintenance.
This will range from back office support, end-to-end service management, change and problem management, and help desk support in several languages including Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German and English.
“This project demonstrates IBM’s contribution to job creation, skills development and economic growth and is a landmark for IBM’s revolution as a globally integrated company,” Harris said.
“It supports government’s objective of making South Africa a hub for global outsourcing business and we view this investment in the professional knowledge and skills of our people as vital to the country’s growth.”
The company will invest R24 million in training programmes over the next 12 months to enhance the centre’s skills and expertise base. The money will come from an investment budget of about R300-million set aside for this year as part of the company’s contribution to economic transformation in the country