14 December, 2005
Botswana Could be an Ideal Location for Offshore Investors Looking for New Opportunities

A new report by independent market analyst Datamonitor says Botswana is making the right move to develop a strong contact center offshoring sector. However the report, ' Profiting from Contact Center Outsourcing in Botswana ', stipulates that her government must immediately address the high telco charges currently being levied to contact centres, if the industry is to be allowed to move forward and realise what could be a very promising future. "The excellent incentives which the government has afforded foreign investors together with an educated labour force are core strengths", says Peter Ryan, outsourcing and offshoring analyst with Datamonitor and author of the report. "However, elevated telco costs are a major drawback. If the current charges remain in place, Botswana's industry has no chance over the long term, relative to international.

Target markets ideal for Botswana include English-speaking locations such as North America, the UK and Australia / New Zealand. Ryan also identifies South Africa as an excellent possibility: " South Africa is rapidly becoming one of the world's highest quality locations from which to serve offshore customers. However, with that comes a higher cost per agent. Botswana is well-positioned to provide nearshore contact centre services to South African customers, especially given their close proximity and common commercial/popular cultures." Botswana has several areas in which it can develop its offshore contact centre competencies, which include outbound calling, debt collection with the possibility of expanding into a full range of business process outsourcing (BPO) services. Datamonitor expects outsourced call centre agent positions in Botswana to rise from a very small base of less than 100 to nearly 500 by 2009.