Plan for 500,000 new jobs in SA global business sector

In the context of mass unemployment, particularly for the youth and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, job creation has never been more important. 

In 2018, Genesis launched the South Africa in the Digital Age (SADA) initiative to identify inclusive economic opportunities for job creation, and the enablers and actions required for these opportunities to scale significantly. The SADA process identified globally traded services as a key area of opportunity – estimating that 500,000 jobs could be generated in this area by 2030 if a national programme encompassing training, financial and other support commensurate to the opportunity is designed and adopted.

Following the release of the report, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) contracted Genesis to develop the country’s GBS masterplan. 

The task was to break down exactly how the objective of creating 500,000 cumulative new jobs could be realised. Central to this work was a rigorous analysis and quantification of demand- and supply-side requirements and to then develop a detailed action plan to secure these requirements. The demand side considers what it will take to successfully market South Africa and convince new global GBS operators and companies to set up operations in the country. The supply side considers the skills and infrastructure requirements to deliver on this work.

The industry’s ability to realise its job creation potential will be determined by several factors. To rigorously capture this variability, the masterplan is based on a scenario analysis that sets out four scenarios for the sector’s growth. 

Each scenario has a different target for cumulative job creation for the period 2020-2030, and requires differing levels of support from industry, government and external partners. We worked collaboratively with the industry body, BPESA, government, labour, development partners and the private sector to co-design required actions and timelines and establish buy-in among those responsible for actioning the implementation plan.

The GBS masterplan was officially adopted and signed by the minister of the dtic in November 2021 and is currently being implemented.