Durban — A top-end location for a top-end workforce is how founder and executive chairperson of Rewardsco Investments, Michael Steenfeldt-Kristensen, described the new R300 million operations centre in uMhlanga Ridge which was officially launched on Tuesday.
Speaking at the roof-wetting of Block A – the third of the operations centres built by the company in partnership with Zenprop Property Holdings over the past eight years – Steenfeldt-Kristensen said the vision for the three-building campus that is now complete was a perfect fit with the strong growth of the business.
“We always intended to grow this business exponentially. To accommodate this, we had to have the right premises.
“We did not want to compromise and develop sweatshops. We have now built three buildings that are all P-grade and 5-star rated and have created a beautiful campus for our employees to enjoy.”
Steenfeldt-Kristensen added that when you collect a lot of similar businesses into an area, you create a centre of gravity which attracts a multitude of clients from different geographies, which puts you on a map.
The group’s commercial director, Dylan Koen, added that the new operations centre was an investment in job creation and a reflection that the company remained strong even during turbulent economic times. Koen said business process outsourcing is an important job creator for youth.
He said according to Statistics SA, by the end of the second quarter of this year, youth unemployment was 63.9% for those aged between 15 and 24, nearly twice the national unemployment rate of 34.5% and more than four times the global average of 13.6%.
Of the 275 000 people employed in the call centre space nationally, 57 000 live in KwaZulu-Natal.
Rewardsco is regarded as one of the biggest single employers at 2 000, with more than 1 200 jobs likely to become available in the near future. The new building brings Rewardsco’s total operation to 20 000m², providing capacity for a further 1 200 employees.
“We have capacity for approximately 600 consultants now. That will take us to 2 500 nationally.
“Further international contracts that are expected to come on stream next year could boost this to 3 200,” said Koen.
He added that each building has emergency infrastructure and each has its own generator to ensure that services will not be interrupted during electricity outages.
Daily News