Business
Jamaica open for business, welcomes investment – Minister
Jamaica’s minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Anthony Hylton has revealed that Jamaica is teeming with investment opportunities in such areas as business process outsourcing (BPO), export-oriented manufacturing, tourism and global shipping and logistics.
He was addressing a wide spectrum of potential local and foreign investors at a recent forum staged by Mayberry Investments Limited at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston.
Hylton stated that Jamaica’s strength as an investment location is grounded in a number of factors, including its large English-speaking population, competitive wages, accessibility to a diverse labor pool, and its ideal location for trading with the rest of the Western Hemisphere including the United States, as well as the fact that the country “is endowed with an abundance of natural resources and a well-developed infrastructure.”
He said that Jamaica remains an attractive destination for BPO and has emerged as the leading contact centre location in the English-speaking Caribbean with more than 10,000 full time agents in the offshore sector.
With an established track record in finance and accounting, human resource outsourcing (HRO), receivables management, technical helpdesk support, outbound sales and lead generation, “Jamaica has been recognized by Gartner (technology research company) as a destination to watch and by A.T. Kearney (global management consultants) as a favourable BPO destination,” the Minister stated.
He noted further that with near shore access to the United States, low attrition rates and high labor force availability among high school and university graduates, Jamaica provides great value to businesses looking for a BPO destination.
This value position, he argued, is bolstered by the fact that average call centre and BPO salaries are 40-60 percent lower than the corresponding salaries in the US.
