Botswana pitches for BPO business

The South African nation of Botswana hopes to gain a share of the BPO (business process outsourcing) market by making a pitch for niche areas.

Botswana’s challenge is that competitors in Asia and Europe enjoy first-mover advantage, and are large enough to compete on cost, according to Moraki Mokgosana, business development executive of Botswana’s International Financial Services Centre, a government agency.

“We intend to aim our focus on the targeting of niche markets and achieving our growth through quality of service as opposed to the cost element,” Mokgosana said.”Our strengths lie mostly in BPO in the financial services sector.”

Botswana took this approach after it commissioned Accenture to evaluate BPO opportunities. Historically, the economy of Botswana has, since independence, been driven by mining and to a lesser extent by agriculture. The country has been looking to diversify and achieve economic growth. It has identified the tourism and financial markets as alternative engines for economic growth.

Within the financial services sector, an opportunity for the development of the BPO and the call center industries were identified.

The Accenture report listed Botswana’s favorable legal and economic environment, good telecommunications infrastructure, and its small though skilled workforce as potential advantages.

Botswana has taken a double-pronged strategy toward building its BPO portfolio by developing local businesses and attracting companies to locate in the country.

A showpiece of Botswana’s efforts in the BPO sector is the privately owned Oseg Group. Oseg is one of the largest outsourcers in the country, focusing on services like accounts receivable. It also does telemarketing.

The country has rolled out copious incentives such as a guaranteed level of corporate tax until 2020 and exemptions from withholding taxes on interest, commercial royalties, consulting fees and dividends paid to nonresidents.

“Botswana can employ a phased approach starting with some ‘low hanging fruit’ in the short term and culminating in more complex offerings in the longer term,” Mokgosana said.