A Look at How the Customer Services Economy Is Shaping South Africa’s Workforce Services
South Africa’s customer services economy is one of the country’s fastest-growing industries and an important contributor to the economy.
But its impact extends beyond job creation. As the sector grows, it is creating new pathways for skills development, leadership, and broader community support. Cathy Kalamaras, Growth Enablement Director at Concentrix South Africa – a global leader in customer experience solutions and technology – discusses why that broader impact matters.
Customer experience and services can be a powerful vehicle for economic participation because it gives people an achievable way to enter the workforce and build careers, often from communities where those opportunities have historically been limited.
But the impact doesn’t stop when someone walks through the workplace door. More and more businesses in this sector are investing in their people and the communities around them, and we’re starting to see a much broader ripple effect.
One of the most important contributions is creating access to employment for people who may otherwise struggle to enter the formal job market. Work readiness programmes continue to open doors for first-time workers, while structured development opportunities help turn those first roles into long-term sustainable employment or careers in the customer services sector.
Developing leadership from within
While job creation is an important starting point, the real opportunity is career creation. When someone joins an organisation through their first job, it’s important that they can also see a pathway toward professional development and long-term economic mobility.
As the customer services economy expands, developing local leadership talent becomes equally important. For South Africa’s services sector to continue creating opportunities at scale, organisations need leaders who understand the local context, the workforce, and the communities they serve.
Bringing in outside leadership doesn’t always achieve the goals you want for the local industry. The best approach has always been to develop from within. This creates opportunities for growth while strengthening local capability and leadership pipelines.
Concentrix’s Leadership LaunchPad: IGNITE programme is one example of how that development can happen in practice. Launched in March 2026, the programme provides employees aspiring to become Team Leaders with structured learning, workplace application, coaching and support. As of September 2026, 189 aspiring leaders have been developed, with a further 57 employees currently enrolled.
Making a real impact in gender equality
Creating access to leadership opportunities also plays an important role in advancing gender equity. We believe that supporting women in the sector is about more than representation alone. It’s about building a workforce that better reflects the diversity and potential of South Africa, while also expanding economic participation.
When women are given a clear pathway to develop their skills and progress, the impact extends beyond the individual. It creates greater financial independence and brings new perspectives into leadership. Creating equitable access to these opportunities is an important part of building a workforce that reflects the diversity and potential of South Africa.
At Concentrix South Africa, women currently make up 63.4% of current participants in the Leadership LaunchPad: IGNITE programme. Across the programme, 33 employees have already progressed into Team Leader positions.
Leveraging technology for employee evaluation
Technology also helps organisations create more consistent and transparent development processes. While human judgement remains essential, digital tools can support fairer and more data-informed decisions around progression and readiness.
Concentrix uses Sapia.ai, an external AI-powered assessment platform, to evaluate leadership readiness against defined competencies. The aim is to provide employees with greater clarity about the capabilities they need to develop, while also helping reduce unconscious bias in decision-making.
Addressing the real hurdles to economic inclusion
The sector’s impact is not limited to the workplace. In a country where unemployment remains a significant challenge, the value of job creation is clear, but so too is the importance of understanding the realities of the communities from which that workforce is drawn.
Our Concentrix team recently visited a school in Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal, to provide career guidance. What began as a conversation about future opportunities quickly revealed a more immediate need.
When we arrived, we discovered many learners were more concerned about the meal they would receive that day than discussing future careers. The experience prompted us to partner with Phoenix Crime and Community Assist (PCCA) to support vulnerable children in the community.
That partnership led to more than 150 employees contributing to fundraising activities, with 15 volunteers coming together to help provide 500 meals to children across the Phoenix community. The initiative was not the result of a predetermined corporate programme. It grew from listening to the community and responding to what was needed most in that moment.
The experience reminded us that economic empowerment doesn’t happen in isolation. You can talk to a young person about their future, but if their immediate needs aren’t being met, it becomes much harder for them to focus on what that future could look like. Sometimes creating impact starts with listening to what a community actually needs.
The growing role of customer experience in South Africa
That is the bigger story behind the growth of South Africa’s customer experience and services economy. Businesses are part of communities, and we need to understand the role we can play within those communities.
This sector is ultimately about people. Technology is changing how we work, but it is people who deliver the experiences, develop the skills, lead the teams, and contribute to their communities. If we get that right, the growth of this sector can have an impact that reaches far beyond the organisations themselves.
Ultimately, doing good is good for business.
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