As BPO boom continues, Holness drums up optimism
JAMAICA’S BUSINESS process outsourcing (BPO) sector has employed an additional 2,000 people with the opening of the Portmore Informatics Park in St Catherine.
The facility, which comprises four three-storey buildings, was constructed at a cost of $3.6 billion, which included upgrades of the original buildings and parking.
It has increased the Port Authority’s BPO space in Portmore by 300 per cent and islandwide by 13 per cent.
In his keynote address, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the development was emblematic of the Government’s support of the global services sector and, more important, its strategic objective to make Portmore Jamaica’s 15th parish.
“It is the fastest-growing employment creation endeavour in Jamaica, and regardless of the complaints, it is putting income in the pockets of over 52,000 Jamaicans. It is creating a basis and a ladder for progress, promotion, and prosperity,” Holness said.
The complaints to which Holness referred are persistent concerns that working conditions are akin to sweatshops – an allegation rejected by industry leaders.
The prime minister said that Portmore has the highest concentration of university graduates and is well positioned to become the Silicon Valley of Jamaica.
“If we are going to rapidly build our economy, we need to create the infrastructure, the regulatory environment, and the safety and security that our own people can get employed, earn their living, fulfil themselves, and others can come,” Holness said.
He urged that greater focus be placed on Jamaica’s education system to ensure that graduates steer clear of crime and violence but instead make their labour available.
Holness said Jamaica needs those who are in gangs to leave and join the labour force.
“We will train you. Put down the gun and take up a trowel. Put down the banger and take up a proper phone,” he said in reference to lottery scamming.
Meanwhile, chairman of the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ), Alok Jain, said another 147,000 square feet of BPO space is on the horizon for Phase Two of the project.
“The success of the BPO is a case study in the resilience of Jamaica and illustrates what we can achieve when we work together across the various ministries and agencies of government, with the private sector, to achieve a shared vision,” Jain said.
The 157,000-square-foot informatics park also boasts a BPO Plug and Play Incubator.
Professor Gordon Shirley, PAJ president and CEO, said it will serve to reduce the barriers to entry and enhance Jamaica’s value-added proposition to international investors.
“The i ndustry’s first 200-seat incubator supported 10 firms since inception in 2015. ... This facilitation continues with t he Portmore Informatics Park with the establishment of an 80-seat incubator,” Shirley said.