Durban will host 40 international buyers of outsourced services in from 2 – 5 February as part of its Smart City initiative. The buyers attending the South African Outsourcing Forum (SAOF) 2006 are from the United Kingdom, USA and Europe will spend three days in Durban in one-on-one meetings with local suppliers of outsourced services as guests of Trade and Investment KwaZulu Natal, KZNonSource and the dti.

SAOF 2006 was initiated by SACCCOM (South African Contact Centre Community), the national outsourcing industry body set up by the dti to ensure that South Africa is well positioned to attract international outsourcing business. It is the result of the close association between SACCCOM and the national industry body for technology outsourcing in India, NASSCOM (National Association of Software Services Companies). India has used this investor forum model to grow its outsourcing business with significant success.

The event will consist of a series of pre-arranged meetings between international buyers and local suppliers. A seminar runs simultaneous to these meetings as there will be double the number of international buyer delegates as local supplier delegates. Each local supplier delegate will be involved in about 26, thirty-minute, one-on-one sales meetings with pre-qualified decision makers who are looking to outsource services.

Among the buyer delegates participating in the event are senior representatives of Delhaize Group. Ineas Insurance, ValueSource Technologies, Laurus, Banca Intesa, Galeries Lafayette, Heritable Bank, Regent, Morgan Stanley International and HSBC.

The visitors will also take advantage of opportunities arranged by KZN Tourism to experience local culture and the scenic beauty of KwaZulu Natal during their stay.

SACCCOM (the South African Contact Centre Community) is a non-profit professional body for the contact centre and BPO (business process outsourcing) industry in South Africa. The vision of SACCCOM is to promote the growth and development of the contact centre and BPO industry in South Africa under one unified industry body that will ensure South Africa becomes a preferred offshore location for international Investment, and at the same time actively promote the delivery of best practice throughout the industry.

SACCCOM is established as a conduit for building new relationships with other professional bodies, government departments, overseas agencies and other agencies that have an interest in the successful development of the contact centre and BPO industry in South Africa.

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