Business process outsourcing (BPO) company CCI South Africa has opened a new contact centre – in the sprawling township of Umlazi, outside Durban.

The new building will make it easier for its employees to get to work and for people from previously disadvantaged communities to take advantage of employment opportunities.

The Umlazi facility is the first contact centre CCI has opened in a township. Umlazi is the biggest township in KwaZulu-Natal, with nearly half a million residents. Because of the high cost of commuting to the commercial centre of Umhlanga, residents of the township are under-represented in the BPO industry, CCI said in a statement on Monday.

CCI South Africa CEO Peter Andrew said: “We realised many of our valued employees have a long and costly commute to work in our current offices in Umhlanga, so we started really thinking about how we could ease their burden and facilitate access to employment.

“The obvious solution was to open a contact centre in Umlazi. When the lease for our downtown Durban office ended, it made perfect sense to open a contact centre much closer to our employees.”

In early 2024, the company intends to open a new centre for its impact sourcing partner, CareerBox Africa, which offers young people from previously disadvantaged communities the opportunity to be employed at CCI’s contact centres, after completing a two-week work readiness programme run by CareerBox.

“We have seen incredible demand for training at the CareerBox offices in Umhlanga and we are delighted to be able to offer many more of the motivated young people from Umlazi access to the BPO industry through our work readiness programmes,” said CareerBox Africa MD Lizelle Strydom in the statement.