Partner Article

Webhelp Raises Awareness of Homelessness in South Africa

Craig Gibson, CEO of Webhelp SA, and finance director, Mark Reynolds, will join around 250 CEOs to spend tomorrow night (Thursday, July 28), sleeping rough on Johannesburg’s iconic Nelson Mandela Bridge. From 6pm on Thursday until 6am on Friday, July 29, the captains of industry, armed only with a sleeping bag and a piece of cardboard, will sleep out in sub-zero temperatures to raise empathy for and awareness of the plight of the homeless in South Africa.

In addition to raising awareness, the event also aims to increase empathy for the homeless, at the same time as raising money for charities involved in the eradication of homelessness in South Africa. According to the organisers, “in 2016, we’ll start with providing vulnerable communities with an education, which leads to financial freedom, so no one has to sleep on the streets.”

Craig Gibson, CEO of Webhelp SA, explained why he was getting involved: “Webhelp in South Africa was founded on the basis of strong commercial principles together with a focus on bridging the social divide in South Africa. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and contact centres provide a large number of jobs and these jobs are attainable for the particular sectors of South African society which struggle most with unemployment, such as youth, where unemployment rates are running at more than 28%.

“Webhelp has been working for some time with Columba Leadership on a grassroots level social investment programme that aims to restore economic equality and bridge the social divide through job creation.

“When the opportunity came to join this inspirational event and help raise the profile of and empathy with the homeless in our society, as well as raising money to combat the inequality that still exists here, I had no hesitation in becoming involved. I was keen to rise to the challenge and do my part to build a world that works for everyone. If not now, when?”

Craig and Mark have already pledged R160,000, but if you would like to help them boost their total, which this year will go to Columba Leadership, Steve Biko Foundation and ASHA Trust, you can donate via the following link: http://bit.ly/2abcnGh

You can follow Craig and Mark’s adventure on social media using the hashtags #CEOSleepOut2016 - #4Leaders4Change - #RiseToTheChallenge.

ENDS

For more information please contact:

Heather Astbury, head of PR at Webhelp, on +44(0)7825 593242 heather.astbury@uk.webhelp.com

About Webhelp

Webhelp is a global business process outsourcer (BPO), specialising in customer experience and payment management in addition to sales and marketing services across voice, social and digital channels.

From more than 25 countries with a 35,000-strong team, our focus is on engineering performance improvements and delivering a real and lasting transformation in our clients’ operating models to generate financial advantage. We partner with some of the world’s most progressive brands including Sky, Shop Direct, Bouygues, Direct Energie, KPN, Vodafone, La Redoute, Michael Kors and Valentino.

Headquartered in Paris, France, the company has grown its revenues by more than 250% in the last 4 years by investing in its people, the environment they work in and developing its analytical and operating capability to deliver a transformational outsourcing proposition that addresses the challenges of an omni-channel world.

Webhelp is owned by its management and KKR, a leading global investment firm, as of February 2016.

More information can be found at www.webhelp.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Heather Astbury .