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Business Support Services
• A new hotel has boosted related support services in Bloemfontein
Business-support services are those services that fall outside the core competencies of a business, but which are nonetheless integral to the successful running of any organisation. Services such as security, catering, cleaning, repairs, the provision of office furniture, stationery and air conditioning, software and hardware management, staffing, marketing, recruitment, and postal and bookkeeping services all play a vital role.
Three of the Free State’s largest economic sectors – mining, petrochemicals and agriculture – are large-scale activities that run vast operations requiring a high level of organisation and planning and a smoothly run series of services. Large companies outsource these services to specialist providers so as to be able to focus on their own core business.
Agriculture is one of the sectors that held up best during the current difficult economic times. The wholesale and retail sectors in the Free State similarly experienced slight increases between 2008 and 2009. As a result, service providers to those industries have also done relatively well in recent times.
The investment accompanying preparations for the 2010 Fifa World Cup has had a positive spin-off. A 94-roomed luxury hotel in the heart of Bloemfontein, the Protea group’s Willow Lake Hotel, opened in March 2009 with beneficial results for all associated service providers. Similarly, large infrastructural projects (like the Free State Stadium upgrade) have boosted downstream service companies.
The province’s strategic position in the centre of the country provides opportunities for many support services. National rail, air and road links coincide at Bloemfontein, and Harrismith is a major logistical hub for traffic of all sorts travelling between the coast and the country’s economic heart around Johannesburg. So it is logical that supply-chain management and logistics companies like Kuehne + Nagel should have operations in Bloemfontein. The provincial capital, Kroonstad, and Virginia are both popular as depots as they are all important railheads.
Call centres have been identified by the Free State Investment Promotion Agency as a growth sector that will help to create employment. The Free State has a number of competitive advantages in this field and already investors have joined a public-private initiative in Bloemfontein.
In the rural southern Free State, a government delivery facility has been transformed into a hub of entrepreneurship. The Thusong Service Centre at Kopanong is training 11 young people to run a telecentre. After learning more about computers (supplied by the Universal Services and Access Agency of South Africa), the young men and women will pass on their knowledge and grow their businesses.
KEY CONTACTS
Bloemfontein Chamber of Commerce and
Industry: www.bcci.co.za
Free State Investment Promotion Agency:
www.fipa.org.za
Kroonstad Chamber of Business:
www.kroonstadbusiness.co.za
Services Sector Education and Training Authority:
www.serviceseta.org.za
South African Post Office: www.postoffice.co.za
