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.