Providing Excellent Service

MCS Debt Recovery was established in 1995. Saskia Hill, then the external accountant for the business and staying true to her entrepreneurial spirit, acquired the business in 2009 on the retirement of the founder Mr Jo Tets. Since then, Hill has increased the number of clients and has grown the staff employment numbers significantly.

Hill says that the success of her business has been based on treating her staff as assets and believes that happy staff equate to successful collectors. She says, “Our vision is to be a leading debt recovery company, providing excellent service to our clients, in an environment where our staff can grow and develop.” Says Hill, “We promote a family type culture with both our staff and our clients. The business slogan, ‘Walk in as a guest, and join the family’, is one that we all embrace.” MCS Debt Recovery has also moved from small, rented offices to larger, owned premises. The business is based in Cornubia Business Park and includes a generator room, staff canteen and a training centre.

As the well-being of the staff is always top of mind, MCS Debt Recovery has a highly productive and motivated workforce. Staff are recruited from the neighbouring towns. Over the years, job opportunities for both employed and unemployed people have been created; training and coaching has been provided in order that they may become successful debt collection agents with the possibility of being promoted to managers and fulfil other key roles within the industry.

Motivating staff in the call centre environment is vital and MCS Debt Recovery retains staff by offering good incentives and delivering on what is promised. “We are also consistently looking at innovative ways to engage with our employees. We gamify existing processes by playing games to reward and encourage agents to get to the next level and consistently strive to increase their performance in respect of their specific KPIs,” says Hill.

Hill is very hands on in her interactions with the call centre agents. The location of her desk on the call centre floor (alongside the other members of the management team), enables her to constantly monitor collections and engage with the staff. That way, Hill says, she can quickly acknowledge an agent who handles a telephone call well or is able to discuss a difficult call.

“Our long-standing relationships with our clients demonstrate not only the trust they have in the service we provide, but also their satisfaction with our success rates. We have, for example, been working with one client since inception. We take pride in the professional services we provide to all our clients. Our team is our greatest asset and combined with the effective and reliable service providers, we are well positioned to grow into the international market.”

The current collections and financial management (credit providers) industry are facing some of the greatest challenges that they have ever faced. Debtors are under enormous pressure and this situation needs to be handled with incredible foresight. “I remind the staff to have empathy when dealing with people who are in debt â€" you never know what the person on the other end of the phone is dealing with,” said Hill.

MCS Debt Recovery is now looking at growing their business internationally and is very excited about the opportunities available.

In addition, a dedicated wellness manager works together with management and staff to create employee engagement strategies. This strategy includes sending a daily motivational email which contains motivational messages, South African news, highlights of the previous work day, and recognition messages. Motivational speakers deliver talks to the whole workforce once per quarter. Quarterly staff surveys are completed to ascertain employee satisfaction as well as obtain feedback on areas where improvements can be made. Employees are also encouraged to share ideas for new strategies.

Hill is as passionate about giving back to her staff as she is to the wider community. “We include our staff in regular charity drives which involve various organisations and communities. Our staff appreciate being part of these activities and are also encouraged to, ‘pay it forward’ when receiving an incentive reward.”

MCS Debt Recovery has been involved in various charity projects including the donation of books, groceries and clothing on an ongoing basis together with sending volunteers to assist with certain programmes.

Other initiatives include:

• Quarterly blood bank drives (where the blood bank comes to the office)
• Sunflower fund: staff have joined the register for stem cell donors.
• Feeding the homeless on the beachfront
• Supporting the annual ‘slipper day’ and ‘casual day’
• KZN Deaf and Blind Society: Contributing towards their cause as well as bringing staff from the Deaf and Blind Society to educate our staff and interact with them
• Phoenix Child Welfare: Donations
• Cornubia Primary School: we have adopted our local school and ask for a list of their needs every quarter
• Cornubia Creche: we have adopted one of the local creches and assist them with donating toys, books and baby goods
• Previously disadvantaged entrepreneurs: Three emerging black entrepreneurs have been provided with finance to buy much needed equipment to enhance their small businesses. This is done on an annual basis
• Staff members’ school fees: if the staff have children at high school their fees are paid in full. If they themselves are studying at tertiary institutions a payment towards the tertiary fees is made

Full Name of Company: MCS Debt Recovery CC
Industry Sector: Business Services - Debt Collection
Services / Products: Debt Collection and rehabilitation of debtors
Date Established: 8 July 1995
Customer Base: Banking, retail, vehicle tracking, education, public sector, financial services, telecomms
Auditors / Accountants: RSM SA Durban (from February 2017)
Bankers: Standard Bank and FNB

KEY PERSONNEL
CEO: Saskia Hill
Head of Finance and Admin: Jane Vosper
Call Centre Manager: Preshena Takurpersad
Head of Operations: Lee Anne Dhorie
Head of Development: Rajeshree Naidoo
Head of MI: Derek Truter

CONTACT DETAIL
Physical Address: Unit 7, Sugarstone Business Park, 2 Crassula Road, Cornubia Extension 4032
Postal Address: P.O. Box 1876, Mt Edgecombe
Country Club, 4301
Tel: +27 (0)31 537 7500
E-mail: saskia@mcsdr.co.za
Website: www.mcsdr.co.za

MCS DEBT RECOVERY

OUR HERITAGE

MCS Debt Recovery is a debt collection call centre that was established in 1995. Saskia Hill, then the external accountant for the business and staying true to her entrepreneurial spirit, acquired the business in 2009 on the retirement of the founder Mr Jo Tets. "Saskia is one of these people who takes on challenges and completely revamped the business, using her accounting background to set up controls, policies and procedures whilst remaining ethically and legally correct" says Jane Vosper, Head of Finance and Admin. Consequently, MCS Debt Recovery has grown from strength to strength. The company has increased its number of clients and agents substantially over the years.

"The vision has always been to grow the company in order to become one of the leading debt recovery businesses in this country. We have now set our eyes on acquiring offshore business," says Lee Anne Dhorie, Head of Operations. The company prides itself on promoting a family culture with its staff and clients. Saskia explains, "The business slogan, 'Walk in as a guest, and join the family', is that we all embrace. We live that ethos every day, our staff, with our clients and with our suppliers. believe that we have good relationships with all three stakeholders, which is key to our success"

OUR LEADERSHIP

MCS Debt Recovery has a unique culture. The company has a very flat leadership structure with an open-door policy. "In fact, we don't have doors, Saskia's desk on the call centre floor," says Jane. "The leadership team work with the agents, motivating and encouraging them" says Rajeshree Naidoo, Head of Development. Everyone is offered the same level of respect from agents to team leaders and management. The management team all share the same vision for company. "As the leadership team we want to create an environment where all of the staff can grow, develop and become leaders in this industry" commented Lee Anne.

OUR STAFF
Saskia says that the success of the business has been based on treating her employees as assets and believes that happy staff equate to successful collectors. "Our people are the most important facet to the whole business," she says. Saskia's belief in her employees is not based on their experience or formal education. "Saskia has taken junior staff who started off as collection agents and she has groomed them, worked with them and promoted them into senior positions to manage and lead other people in large teams," says Rajeshree. "It is clear from the way that we lead that we genuinely care about the staff. We do what we say we are going to do" explains Lee Ann. "We believe in developing our staff from the inside out. We have quarterly staff surveys because we want to hear what motivates our staff and we ask for their input in solving problems."

The team is hardworking. Debtors are under enormous pressure and often need to be handled with prudence. Being in a call centre, much of the task of the management team is focused on motivating the agents and making them feel appreciated. This is done through gamification where games are played to motivate the staff. "The managers get involved too, we dance on the floor and if it's a dress up day, we dress up too!" says Saskia.

OUR CLIENTS

We pride ourselves on our relationships with our clients. They visit the call centre and often speak about the great hospitality they receive. We believe in a 24 hour turnaround time in addressing client's requests. "Our clients know MCS Debt Recovery to be transparent, trustworthy and ethical and this stems from the leadership. Everyone shares the same principles and the same values. We collect money on behalf of our clients, so it is very important that we are compliant and trustworthy". "MCS Debt Recovery prides itself on its integrity"
explains Jane.

OUR SUCCESSES

MCS Debt Recovery is proud of what it has achieved and continues to strive everyday to succeed. "We are 24 years old and continue to play an active role in our industry by being included on the boards of various industry bodies as well as staying up to date with the latest innovation and technology," says Saskia. MCS Debt Recovery is proud of the community work that it participates in and does not only reward agents for achieving their targets but also believes in paying
it forward. The company encourages its staff to set goals and enjoys motivating them to achieve these goals.

Recent achievements by the company include being a finalist in the Standard Bank KZN Top Business Awards and being placed fifth in KZN top brands. Another achievement saw Rajashree Naidoo receiving a CCMG award. She was the KZN finalist and the National runner-up for best supervisor in the country.

THE FUTURE

At times the company has had to be innovative and adapt to change. The debt collection industry will be affected by several changes in legislation and will need to keep abreast of these. "We want to be at the forefront of what is happening in the industry and we are always prepared to try something new. Every day should be a school day" concluded Saskia.