Interview With Zain Patel, Managing Director at Merchants SA

Merchants SA is a leading BPO solutions provider, specialising in customer experience and customer interactions. Top 500 speaks to its MD, Zain Patel, about the importance of building valuable partnerships with clients and providing opportunities for people.

Congratulations on being first in the Top 500 Best Managed Companies Business Process Outsourcing sector! In your opinion, what gives Merchants the competitive advantage?

Merchants has always been people-focused; in the last five years, however, this has been taken to a new level. Merchants as a business wanted to challenge ourselves and, in turn, the industry to be even better when it comes to our people, the communities we operate in, and the impact we can have on the whole of South Africa. Our initiatives around people, communities, impact, and diversity continue to be recognised and drive us internally to want to do more and be more effective. This drive and the end result of leading customer experience delivery for our clients continue to see Merchants as the leading provider in the BPO sector. After 44 years in business, we are so proud that we continue to lead our sector.

What does achieving this accolade mean to you and the company?

Being recognised is always nice and certainly reinforces that the hard work of our teams is producing the results we aim for. Being recognised as the leader in our industry and by such a reputable organisation such as TopCo makes it even more special and something that I know our teams will celebrate and absolutely take some time to reflect on the role each and everyone has played. The good news is that such recognition also continues to drive the passion and motivation to do more and be better, which is also a fantastic outcome.

Please unpack your role at Merchants.

I often say that, as the MD of Merchants, I may very well have the best job. Being able to guide our business and people on a path that delivers so much impact and so much benefit for not only our people and communities but also that of our partners and the wider South African community is truly a privilege.

Fortunately, I’m surrounded by some of the industry’s best operators, leaders and minds! The result of this is that when I work with our teams to set the strategy and the way forward for Merchants, I know we will achieve the lofty ambitions we set.

My role is to challenge us as a business to think “out of this world” and to realise that we have the ability to achieve and impact so much; therefore, we cannot restrict our thinking of what is possible! My role includes being the guide, providing the vision, driving the rigour in our business and providing the environment for our people to succeed – all of these are essential to what makes Merchants the leader and I am immensely proud and thankful I get to play that role.

Please describe Merchants’ products and services.

Merchants is the provider of leading customer experience outcomes. This is achieved by servicing our end clients customers over the phone, chat and email as well as other contact methods.

In addition to this, Merchants provides industry-leading initiatives such as our MyCalling recruitment platform, which enables us to employ people with the potential to drive our impact sourcing model; our Human Experience Platform, which helps our clients run the technical side of their operations; our Cortex WFM and Consulting arm, which provides guidance to our clients on how to get the most out of their operations; and our Merchants Academy, which we are so proud of and is the first academy in our industry, providing SETA-certified skills to job seekers across not just our sector but many other sectors.

How important is skills development at Merchants? The company won a Top Empowerment award for being a key driver in this important area.

Skills development has been an essential component of Merchants’ success for many years. We have our own view on creating impact, and we set out to ensure that the impact we have is sustainable. Skills development is such a critical part of that.

The ability to provide our people and our communities with a clear path for development and then play a critical role in ensuring it is followed through certainly sets Merchants apart from many; it is something we will continue to invest in and develop. Whether it be our specific skills programmes, our leadership development, or the educational initiatives we run in the communities, we know how important all of them are, and we are committed to continuing this focus and driving corporate South Africa in the same direction.

Please speak about the programmes and policies which ensure diversity, social impact, inclusion and growth in the company.

Merchants continues to focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and this has become a key part of who we are as a business. Our programmes that support this include:

Leadership Commitment:

Our senior leadership is fully committed to the gender vision, serving as role models and advocates for gender equality.

Gender Inclusive Policies:

Merchants has developed and implemented gender-inclusive policies that address equal pay, promotion opportunities, parental leave, and workplace harassment prevention.

Equal Opportunity Recruitment:

We implement recruitment practices that focus on equal opportunity, promote diverse candidate pools, and mitigate unconscious bias.

Mentorship and Sponsorship Programmes:

Our mentorship and sponsorship programmes bridge the gender divide and pair women employees with experienced leaders who can help guide their career growth.

Skills Development:

We provide gender-sensitivity training through the Merchants Academy and the UN Global Compact Academy for all employees to raise awareness of gender bias and create a more inclusive work culture.

Flexible Work Arrangements:

We offer flexible work arrangements that support work-life balance, including options for remote work, flexible hours, and childcare support.

Family Support Programmes:

Through our partnership with KAELO, Merchants provide programmes such as family planning assistance and parental leave.

Community Engagement:

We engage in community outreach and philanthropic initiatives that benefit women and girls in the local community, in partnership with our social partners.

Gender-equal Supply Chain:

We endeavour to work with suppliers and partners who also prioritise gender equality in their operations, with over 30% of black females owning suppliers.

Collaboration:

We collaborate with like-minded external organisations and initiatives dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

We then complement the above components with our key initiatives, including our Sisekhaya Township Hubs, our Merchants Academy, and our impact partnerships such as Social Coding and Yes4Youth.

Overall, Merchants is committed to continuing to lead not only our sector but the wider corporate Africa in these areas, a responsibility we take very seriously and at the same time something we are exceptionally proud of.

To what do you ascribe the culture of a collective approach to achieving success?

Having a common passion is critical, and ensuring that passion becomes reality is equally important.

Many organisations have a passion and an objective but struggle to turn them into reality. At Merchants, due to our incredible leaders across the business and the relentless drive of our people, we have found the key to ensuring our passion doesn’t remain a tagline or a future state but becomes reality. A great example is our Sisekhaya initiative, which is our township contact centre hubs, where many externally said it couldn’t be done yet our passion and focus meant we did it and proved the success, a first for our industry that will result in significant change for the way the BPO sector operates in the future and increase the impact it has on the communities across South Africa!

Overall, the success you have is the result of a shared passion and a drive to make it real.

You have been with the company for nearly 14 years. What are some of the major changes you have encountered in the BPO sector during this time?

The pace at which South Africa has developed. The local BPO industry has shifted from what was considered a developing industry to a global leader, competing with long-standing mature global regions and maintaining a fast pace of maturity in a relatively short period of time.

The advancement of technology coupled with the adoption of so many new engagement channels both within B2B and B2C has allowed the BPO industry to shift to a broader GBS industry spanned across multiple sectors and adjacent industries, thereby giving the industry recognition as a strategic driver of business success for all that consumes services.

Finally, the notion and change in perception sectorwide from purely operational dealing mostly with postpurchase service and customer acquisitions to that of strategic enabler of enterprises we serve. The result thereof is relevance to C-level executives’ and their desire to increase customer loyalty, increase share of wallet, and be a driver of competitive advantage.

Please share with us some of Merchants’ flagship projects.

I have mentioned our Sisekhaya Township contact centres, which were a first for the BPO industry. We see this becoming a larger part of the way not only Merchants operates but the wider industry. Our Merchants Academy, where we are taking on the challenge of creating a skilled workforce for the future, not just for the BPO sector but for other sectors, is something we believe will create a lasting impact and legacy for all involved, whether it be the people who go through the academy, their communities, the future employers, or the customers they will benefit.

Then lastly, our more operational projects, which focus on making digital humans and increasing the value of the human interaction people have, are essential to Merchants continuing to be the leader in customer experience delivery.

Have you had any AHA moments as MD of the company?

Yes, the fact that we can do amazing things to co-create strategic drivers of success with clients and participate actively in building and transforming businesses in a very fast-changing consumer-driven world. For many businesses changing from the traditional sectors they thrived in, there is often a desire or need to enter a totally new sector altogether, for example, telco to fintech. Those who have the foresight and are brave enough to take the leap are often rewarded with growth and sustainability in business and often become leaders in already established sectors.

What is your “why”?

As a South African, I know all too well that employing young people and excluding youth from quality jobs can make a fundamental difference to their lives and that of their communities. My ‘why’, and why I have a deep love for this sector, is to intentionally solve business and client needs at the highest levels by training and developing talented youth to do complex work that addresses unemployment and career advancement. Everyone wins.

What are the biggest challenges you have faced at Merchants and how did you overcome them?

I must say that the ramifications and impact that COVID-19 had on the sector, our business, and me personally were unexpected and came without a reference book, university thesis, or guide to address the business and people challenges that came with it.

I know that business leaders across the globe would attest to that and would have had to deal with very similar challenges.

As a BPESA board member at the time, there was a need to engage with a very wide stakeholder group, such as the government, police and emergency services, BPO members, clients, our people, and broader society.

The volume of information and speed at which things developed required an always-on approach. The health and wellbeing of everyone we interacted with was top of mind, and we still had to make logical and rational business decisions to remain operable as a provider of essential services to the domestic and international markets.

I’ve subsequently been appointed chairperson of the BPESA board and will carry through on the commitments and collective efforts of all stakeholders. Change is hard for most organisations and people, but in this instance, making the right decisions every time was the only option. I am particularly proud of how well the public-private partnership (PPP) rallied together for a greater outcome, sharing best practices on how to preserve life while still delivering services and adapting to our clients needs centred around care. As a result of its collective efforts, South Africa created a gold standard for people’s wellbeing by drastically minimising the risks of mortality for those brave individuals who chose to be of service to others. The impact that we were able to derive far exceeded that of business principles and outcomes.

What is your preferred way of receiving information?Reading/podcasts/video/vlogs?Please share with us some of your favourites.

For a long time, my preference was the traditional reading of books. My job requires me to be mobile, and shifting to digital ways of consuming information and material was a natural evolution. E-reading and vlogs are now what I use most, even surpassing books.

What is on the horizon for you in the coming year?

We see huge demand from the international markets for the services we provide from many large Fortune 500 enterprises.

To meet that demand, we’ve taken the bold step of developing technology that is AI-backed to match bestin-class behavioural profile traits to those of our clients specific customer outcomes. To supplement the hiring and attracting of the best people out there, this scientifically matched individuals for jobs of the future.

In addition, we have founded The Merchants Academy, which is a SaaS-driven digital and functional learning environment to develop skills and capabilities at scale and will be an absolute game changer.

Do you have a message of inspiration for our readers?

The world of work is changing at a pace not seen before, and the spectrum of technology development and the role it plays in how we interact in the future is unlimited and exciting at the same time.

I would, however, like to remind readers that human interactions are the nucleus of technological design and development. There is a place in this world for a thriving digital environment where human-to-human connections will always matter most.