While South Africa has some of Africa’s most advanced financial, accounting and legal industries, it would still need to scale up rapidly and match India’s cost competitiveness. 

“It requires some systemic changes,” Mohith Mohan, chief executive officer and founder of Bengaluru-based MOAR Advisory, which has been hired by CapeBPO to help with a feasibility study and potential framework. “Whether it’s with regard to education, government policies, infrastructure” those have to be enacted for the project to be a success, he said. 

Already, a number of business process outsourcing jobs have shifted to Cape Town from global hubs in India and the Philippines as top companies sought to spread operations across more geographies since the coronavirus pandemic.