About 1,000 Cape Flats residents will be spared the hassles of travelling to work after a global business services (GBS) company announced a state-of-the-art contact centre for Mitchells Plain.

Sigma Connected, which offers “white label”’ customer contact centre services, has launched Sigma Connected SA with a “focus on solely serving the country’s domestic clients” this month.

MD David Neale said the company has opened a new headquarters in Woodstock, Cape Town, and plans a state-of-the-art contact centre in Mitchells Plain.

He said Sigma will become the first GBS operation in the Western Cape to provide contact centre solutions from the Cape Flats.

The new venture will support businesses in the telecommunications, retail, insurance, financial services, government and logistics industries.

“There are already 200 staff housed in our new headquarters in Woodstock, which benefits from an excellent public transport network which makes it easier for our staff to travel to and from work,” said Neale.

“We are also very proud to be the first-ever GBS to establish ourselves in the Cape Flats area of Mitchells Plain, taking the job opportunities to where the workforce is. This will cut down on the need for costly travel for them and also enable us to support the community where our employees live.

“Working in partnership with Shadow Careers, we have created over 120 new jobs already and the ultimate aim is to triple in size by growing existing business and winning new contracts across the country — adding more than a thousand new jobs over the next three years.”

Neale described Shadow Careers as an innovative impact sourcing initiative based in Mitchells Plain.

“It is part of Sigma’s ethos to provide jobs for local people, and we have built up an amazing team already.

“As we grow the business going forward, we will recruit through impact sourcing so we can provide employment opportunities for the excluded youth and people from disadvantaged backgrounds who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to work in this environment.”

Franco Cotumaccio, co-founder of Shadow Careers said: “With offices in the same building as Sigma, we look forward to supporting them in this next stage of their growth by sourcing high-potential talent to support and sustainably uplift youth employment in these previously excluded communities.”

TimesLIVE