Local business process outsourcing (BPO) players are telling potential investors that Jamaica is ripe for their investment, citing, among other things, an educated workforce and a stable democratic government as reasons to choose Jamaica as their next offshore office space.
“Jamaica is open for business and, therefore, we need to roll back the red tape and roll out the red carpet in order to facilitate investment in Jamaica, and the BPO sector is one of the sectors that has been doing well,” said JAMPRO Chairman Don Wehby.
Wehby was addressing a group of potential investors from the United States who travelled as part of a fact-finding mission looking into the merits of locating BPO centres in Jamaica, with JAMPRO playing host in partnership with outsourcing authority Nearshore Americas.
The mission served to introduce investors to the current business opportunities available in Jamaica for the BPO sector.
Local BPO companies shared their experiences in the industry to further encourage the development and investment discourse around the growing sector.
IBEX Global, itelbpo Smart Solutions, and VXI Jamaica have also partnered on the initiative.
Kirk Laughlin, managing director, Nearshore Americas, said that the mission was due to international investors’ confidence in Jamaica.
“Jamaica is attractive to international BPO investors for a number of reasons,
but probably the two biggest assets are proximity to the US mainland and English-speaking capabilities,” said Laughlin.
He added that investors examining other options in the Nearshore region see Jamaica as having significant advantages.
Nearshore denotes a geographic location in relatively proximity to the US mainland.
The BPO sector currently has 26,000 seats with conservative estimates having the number exploding to twice its current capacity in just over two years as government and industry stakeholders continue building out more space for investment.
