CCI Call Centres South Africa is one of the largest call centre operations in the country. The company has its roots in Mauritius and has been active in South Africa for 10 years. The company started out as a joint venture with a local entity.

In 2015, CCI Call Centres won the Investor of the Year Category at the South African Premier Business Awards. The award encourages expansion of investment into the South African economy. It also recognises efforts and commitments by local and global companies to create jobs and stimulate the economy through investment across all industries.

CCI employs more than 3 500 people at its sites in Durban, which include a custom-built headquarters in Umhlanga that was built at a cost of R250 million and officially opened in 2015.

“We were attracted by the excellent human resources available in the country as well as the technical infrastructure available. South Africa’s time zone is well-aligned to the United Kingdom and the range of incentives available through the Department of Trade and Industry makes South Africa a very attractive destination for businesses such as ours,” says Daniel Halfpenny, the finance director at CCI South Africa. “We chose to set up operations in Durban as we felt there is an oversaturation of contact centres in other parts of the country and this way we are able create a pool of resources and hold on to our excellent team members.”

CCI places its staff at the centre of its operations and this is evident in the high staff retention rate at the company and the numerous opportunities available for progression.

Through its sister company, Career Box, CCI runs a work-readiness programme that equips new employees with the appropriate skills to enter the world of work.

“Through our Step Up programme we equip our agents with the skills required for management positions and we run several skills development programmes, up to executive level,” explains Halfpenny. “Our aim is to create a work environment where people are happy to come to work and our performance as a company is driven by our people.”

CCI hopes to continue its growth path of the past decade and aims to double the size of its operations within the next three years. Already plans are under way to expand to other parts of the continent through a number of acquisitions and organic growth.