Nelson Mandela Bay a new growth centre for BPO sector

As African countries rise among the world’s top destinations for business process outsourcing (BPO), Nelson Mandela Bay is emerging as a promising growth hub to entrench South Africa’s position as the continent’s number one location for the global business services sector.

Investors in the sector seeking new local destinations for expansion, along with industry body Business Process Enabling SA (BPESA), have highlighted Nelson Mandela Bay for its affordable property, lower levels of overcrowding and traffic congestion, and quality of life, which supports talent attraction and retention in a highly competitive sector.

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South Africa is recognised as a leading investment destination for outsourcing and global business services (GBS), including customer service, tech support and claims processing, ranking fifth in the world in the 2026 Global Outsourcing Talent Index by US consultancy Ataraxis.

Africa is gaining ground on established Asian locations, with Nigeria one place behind SA, and Kenya (11th) and Egypt (15th) as rising competitors, highlighting the continent’s growing role in a rapidly growing global market for offshored customer experience and business services.

SA also ranks in the top 10 of the most AI-ready outsourcing destinations in the Global AI Outsourcing Readiness Index, which evaluates AI literacy, adoption and education pipelines.

This reflects the country’s well-developed digital infrastructure and skills base.

All of this matters for South Africa – the GBS sector has become one of our fastest-growing contributors to export revenue, rising from $279 million (R4.5 billion) in 2020 to $422 million(R6.9 billion) in 2025.

Jobs for young people

Globally, the GBS sector has demonstrated its ability to create jobs at scale, particularly for young people entering the labour market.

Locally, 26 346 new jobs were created in 2025, the highest annual total since 2018.

Importantly, young people accounted for about 90% of new hires, with approximately 30% coming from households where no one was previously employed or where families were entirely dependent on social grants.

This makes the sector a significant player in addressing the country’s high youth unemployment, particularly among unemployed graduates, as the industry favours hiring individuals with tertiary education.

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South Africa is also considered a global leader in developing and driving “impact sourcing” as a common practice across the sector.

This socially responsible model of inclusive hiring focuses on recruiting and upskilling people from socio-economically disadvantaged and marginalised communities, particularly the youth and people living with disabilities.

BPESA estimates that the sector has created over 180 000 jobs in the past decade, and has set a target of creating 500 000 jobs by 2030.

The sector in SA is highly diverse, servicing a broad spectrum of industries – including retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, healthcare, insurance and utilities – and their business and personal customers.

Services include sales, lead generation, customer service, virtual assistance, dealer support, roadside assistance, technical support and back-office functions such as claims processing, order fulfilment and content moderation.

Customer interactions take place via phone, email, live chat and social media, with these channels increasingly integrated with artificial intelligence.

Realising the potential in ‘the bay of ppportunity’

Nelson Mandela Bay’s local economy has long been anchored, and become over-reliant on, automotive manufacturing and its surrounding ecosystem.

Growing concerns around deindustrialisation, coupled with the province’s unacceptably high unemployment rate and global trends towards digitalisation and decarbonisation, make it imperative for the metro to diversify its economy and attract investment in new sectors.

This will help create employment opportunities and future-proof the local economy and its workforce.

The Eastern Cape is a rising player in the GBS sector, with a substantial increase in new jobs – from 251 in 2024 to 1 612 created last year.

The growth potential of the Eastern Cape, and Nelson Mandela Bay by extension, is supported not only by the availability of a large population of educated but unemployed youth.

The region’s appeal is enhanced by its range of affordable, quality schools, diverse tertiary education and training institutions, established co-working and shared-office spaces for remote workers, specialised facilities such as the Coega SEZ’s purpose-built BPO Park, and the availability of office buildings that can be converted for use by the sector.

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The value to the metro is that each new BPO or GBS operation creates opportunities well beyond the sector itself, stimulating demand for commercial property, technology, transport, professional services, security, hospitality and a wide range of local suppliers.

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The economic multiplier effect has the potential to benefit businesses across the value chain, while creating sustainable employment and strengthening the resilience of the local economy.

Why ‘the bay’ stands out

While Joburg, Cape Town and Umhlanga currently dominate the sector in South Africa in numbers of ‘seats’, Nelson Mandela Bay offers a compelling value proposition as a viable alternative to support growth in the sector.

It offers the same advantages that position South Africa as a whole as a leading global BPO destination – a combination of cost-efficient labour and operations, an educated talent pool, high levels of English proficiency, strong digital infrastructure and an established corporate services sector.

As global competition for talent rises, investors are particularly looking for locations that can attract and retain a highly mobile workforce that prioritises work-life balance and wellness.

The metro’s distinctive value proposition includes high-quality existing office and commercial space at competitive prices compared with other metros, as well as land available for expansion and new developments.

It is also a highly liveable area, offering a coastal lifestyle, a moderate climate and over 300 days of sunshine, shorter commuting times and an affordable cost of living. These advantages not only enhance employee wellbeing but also contribute to greater productivity and lower operating costs for businesses.

Global quality-of-life indices tend to target “average middle-class” factors such as schooling, security and leisure options.

However, for younger, mobile and connected citizens, digital nomads and remote workers, a liveable city is also about diversity and edginess – historic neighbourhoods and arty communities, repurposed industrial buildings, local theatre and music, independent coffee shops, microbreweries, vintage and thrift shops, community markets and co-working spaces.

These come alongside the more universal benefits of affordability and an outdoor lifestyle centred around parks, beaches and the ocean.

The metro offers all of this within a compact, easily accessible city.

Building an investment ecosystem

Furthermore, during a recent briefing with international investors interested in the sector, they highlighted how the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has mobilised the local business community through its collaborative and action-oriented approach, significantly strengthening the region’s investment value proposition.

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A business community that is engaged, committed and actively involved sends a strong positive message about the local business environment and the strength of its support networks.

Given the sector’s growing interest in the area, the chamber recently established a dedicated GBS/BPO Sector Advancement Task Team in collaboration with BPESA, GBS industry leaders and professional service providers.

The aim is to create a unified platform to coordinate sector development initiatives, strengthen the investment ecosystem and position the city as a preferred destination for GBS investment.

The task team will work to strengthen collaboration between industry and government, support new entrants and expanding operators, and develop and promote the city’s unique value proposition through coordinated investor engagements.

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It will also facilitate partnerships with property developers, landlords and infrastructure providers to create BPO-ready environments that are available for immediate occupation, while lobbying for incentives and reforms to remove barriers to investment and growth.

The task team will also pursue partnerships with universities, TVET colleges and training providers to develop a robust pipeline of work-ready talent capable of supporting future industry growth, while creating meaningful career pathways for young people.

To ensure measurable progress, key performance outcomes have been set and the task team will report quarterly on investment facilitation, skills development, stakeholder engagement and job creation outcomes to ensure accountability and measurable impact.

Addressing barriers to growth

We also need to be frank about the drawbacks and hurdles to growth, which point to areas that need to be addressed by local government and state-owned enterprises such as the Airports Company, Transnet and the national roads agency.

While South Africa has several strengths, including an employable population, competitive start-up costs, a reliable legal system, effective contact-centre delivery, leadership in impact sourcing and a good quality of life, we ranks low in areas such as public transport, road, rail and air connectivity, public infrastructure and basic service delivery.

These are key stumbling blocks that need to be addressed through lobbying and collective action by business and government, as the Bay’s business community works together to unlock this global opportunity.

Denise van Huyssteen is CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber.

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