A Deloitte Spin-Out BPO Covering the African Continent — with Jan-Hendri Tromp of SoluGrowth

In this week’s episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast, we are joined by Jan-Hendri Tromp, International Business Development Executive of SoluGrowth. 

Jan-Hendri, who also goes by JT, tells of how SoluGrowth grew out of Deloitte and into the outsourcing world of South Africa.

SoluGrowth and its Deloitte roots

SoluGrowth emerged from Deloitte South Africa’s Business Process Services unit through a management buyout. 

“We have been in business now for the last seven odd years. However, we are a management buyout out of Deloitte… although we are only seven years old, we have clients that’ve been with us for more than 20 years that were happy to leave the green dot and come over,” JT recalls. 

For JT, who spent 16 years at Deloitte, the move offered new possibilities. 

“When they started it there was about 190 people that moved from Deloitte to SoluGrowth. Now we are hitting around 600 people. Even growing through COVID. So it’s an exciting company to be part of.”

The firm’s core services are finance and accounting outsourcing and IT outsourcing, but independence allowed them to expand. 

“Because we didn’t have that consulting leg anymore, we created what we call business transformation services, which is typically your advisory side and your project sides of the business.” 

SoluGrowth also added strategic sourcing, procurement, and some customer care. “However, we are not a call center business. Our focus is really on the finance and accounting and IT.”

Opportunities in South Africa

SoluGrowth’s operations center on South Africa and Egypt. 

“I think they really complement each other,” JT says. “South Africa brings a lot of strong finance and accounting outsourcing skills… when it comes also to the English-speaking abilities, the cultural affinity with the likes of the UK, US, Australia, South Africa’s quite strong in that.”

Egypt, meanwhile, specializes in IT and languages. 

“They focus quite a lot on the IT industry… and they also provide a lot of languages — in Egypt you can get more than 16 languages that people speak.”

This dual-hub approach lets SoluGrowth build hybrid delivery models. 

“We definitely blend… we really want to blend our team so that they can learn from each other and even culturally, it makes it quite interesting to work in a global team.”

JT also points to the wider opportunity in South Africa. 

“Definitely it’s growing at a rapid speed… the aim is to create another 500,000 jobs by 2030. We’re sitting with about a 35% unemployment rate [in South Africa], so the availability of skills is easy.” 

Despite the competition for talent, SoluGrowth maintains stability. 

“Our attrition rate is around 8%, which is quite low… because we’re trying to create a culture that people want to be part of.”

Business transformation solutions

SoluGrowth sees itself as more than a staffing provider. 

“Anything that’s got a process, that is our core. We will look at it from a people perspective, from a technology perspective, and from a process  

The Business Transformation Services team ensures clients get continuous improvement. 

“They would look typically only at enhancements, improvements, technology and so forth. So we don’t work in silos.”

On pricing, JT stresses flexibility. 

“We prefer to cost it as a managed solution. So not to cost it per head. Because when we then bring continuous improvement and so forth, then we can reinvest.” 

That approach also allows SoluGrowth to deliver extra value. 

“Through our customer satisfaction review, we would say, we have done what you’ve asked us to do, but we’ve done with the same capacity, we’ve done three, four, and five [times]as well without you paying for it.”

Technology’s role in the future of outsourcing

With AI dominating industry discussions, JT is clear: “I think AI’s got a role to play… it’s not gonna replace human beings. It’ll enhance our service offerings to our clients and we might be able to do much more with less. But that is, in any case, part of our DNA. We’ve always invested in technology.”

He’s observed that many leaders tend to jump into current trends too hastily. 

“They immediately go into AI, blockchain, blah, blah, blah. And once you start to unpack it, you realize that they don’t have mature processes. It’s paper based. They’ve got cultural issues. Their technology is not even mapped out properly.”

To keep ahead, SoluGrowth established its Digital Experience (DX) function. 

“We have what we call DX… we’ve got people that just focus on that and focus on the new tools.”

Ultimately, JT believes the future depends on deeper partnerships. 

“It’s very important to be strategically aligned with your clients because the more you understand their business strategy, where they want to go, what they wanna do, what the ambitions are, the better for you to actually [solve problems] with them.”

You can visit SoluGrowth’s website to learn more. JT himself can be reached through email at [email protected] or LinkedIn. 

If you know an outsourcing firm that’s making a real difference through exceptional performance, innovation, or a commitment to positive change, this is your opportunity to put them in the spotlight. 

The Outsourcing Impact Review is a chance to celebrate the best in the business and showcase the powerful, global impact of the outsourcing industry.