Folks it looks like a lot more
happened at the JAMPRO (Jamaica Promotions Corporation) sponsored Jamaica
Investment Forum recently held on Thursday March 1st 2012AD and on
Friday March 2nd 2012AD at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St.
James!
Media reports described the
invitation only shindig dubbed “Invest in Jamaica: Invest in a Global Brand” as
being oversubscribed, owing to the high level of interest and the profile of
the speakers, mostly Government Ministers as noted in the article “Jamaica Investment
conference oversubscribed”, published 2012-03-01 09:15:57, Go-Jamaica.com. Rare to see them so directly
involved, as they usually send Ministerial Members in their stead.
Four hundred (400) delegates from
nearly sixteen (16) countries is definitely oversubscribed.
Roll call please:
- Russia and China
- Sweden
- Scotland
- Serbia
- Japan
- Grand Cayman
- Trinidad and Tobago
- USA
- Canada and the UK
But the other big news aside from
the Russians coming to make BioEthanol for Sorghum as noted in my blog article
entitled “Russians
see potential in Ethanol Fuel Plant in Jamaica – From Russia With Love for
sorghum”: Ohio-based company, Convergys and US-based Aegis Communications
Ltd are coming to Jamaica to set up Call Centers.
Some quick facts about Convergys:
- Employs nearly 75,000 employees worldwide
- Various Clients in 70 countries including T-Mobile, Telefonica of Spain, Macy and Cisco to name a few
- 85 Call Centers Worldwide
This was the
company that was hinted in The
Jamaica Observer in November 2011AD entitled “American
firm to bring up to 3,000 ICT jobs”, published Wednesday, November 23, 2011
BY JULIAN RICHARDSON Assistant
business Co-ordinator, The
Jamaica Observer.
It was later
revealed to be Convergys in subsequent articles “MoBay
call centre to create 1000 jobs”, published Wednesday, December 07, 2011 BY
PAUL ALLEN Observer staff reporter,
The Jamaica Observer and the
article “Call
centre to employ 1,000 in MoBay”, published Thursday, December 08, 2011 by Paul Allen Business reporter, The Jamaica Observer.
Convergys their
target amount of employees as being between one thousand (1000) to three
thousand (3000) employees in a Sector is significant in a rapidly expanding ICT
(Information and Computer Technology) Sector that already employs some eleven
thousand five hundred (11,500) people.
This are reported in the Press
Release from the JIS (Jamaica Information
Service) entitled “Russians
Interested in Setting up Ethanol Plant”, published Sunday March 4th
2012 by Donna-Marie Rowe, Jamaica Information
Service. It was also echoed by the
Jamaica Observer today Tuesday March 6th 2012 in the article “Russians
interested in setting up ethanol plant”, published Tuesday, March 06, 2012
by JIS via the Jamaica Observer.
The Russians are definitely
interested in Jamaica
as a place to invest in the making of BioEthanol using sugary-sweet sorghum.
Possibly other BioFuels such as BioDiesel, a definite catalyst for the
Liberalization of the Motor Vehicle Fuel Production Section of the Energy
Sector as predicted in my blog article
entitled “Russians
see potential in Ethanol Fuel Plant in Jamaica – From Russia With Love for
sorghum” may also be in the works, a spur for Local investment in the
Sector.
This move by Convergys and US-based
Aegis Communications Ltd is a clear and obvious follow-on of the 2009AD investment
by printer maker Xerox in buying ACS (Affiliated Computer Services) Ltd
They had also purchased ACS’s assets here in Jamaica for US$6.4 billion in
cash and stock back in September 2009AD as stated in the article “Xerox
buys E-Services parent, ACS - US$6B deal to expand tech services business”
published Wednesday September 30, 2009, The
Jamaica Gleaner. E-Services,
previously owned by Patrick Casserly and Partners, was an asset he parted with for
US$85 million.
Now it would seem that Call Centers
are slated to make their mark in Jamaica as well.
This with the success of Amazon’s
Kindle Fire going as far as to take a bite out of Apple iPad 2 sales as stated
in my Geezam blog article entitled “Amazon
sells 5.5 million Kindle Fires in Fourth Quarter 2012 – Apple iPad sales drop
and plans January Press Event” and my blog article
entitled “Apple
iPad 3 Launch on March 2012 - Amazon Kindle Fire is a Sweet Dream but a
Beautiful Nightmare for Apple”.
The business it generated for
ACS-Xerox is now well known and the investment in ACS is now being looked up on
in Silicon Valley as a stroke of genius. With
the looming possibility that Amazon may be launching a pair of smartphones in
the Fourth Quarter of 2012AD as hinted in my blog article
entitled “Amazon
set to launch smartphone in Fourth Quarter of 2012AD - The App Economy and the
Increasing Importance of Digical Content”, more business is definitely
coming the way of the Jamaican operations for ACS-Xerox.
Best of all, Jamaica is now in the spotlight as the ideal Call Center
destination. Hence the interest, as no doubt Convergys and US-based Aegis Communications
are coming to Jamaica
for the same reasons FDI (Foreign Direct Investor) Xerox getting into the Call
Center Business via its acquisition of ACS (Affiliated Computer Services):
- Call Center Business is an excellent form of diversification for Xerox, which has long been in the printing business now dominated by Hewlett-Packard
- Jamaica speaks English as our First Language
- We have excellent Fiber Optic Connectivity to the US and South America, making Jamaica the perfect place to Host Call Centers
- Cheap, plentiful Labour willing and ready to work
- Non-discriminatory workplaces employing people with various skill and education levels
- The coming of Energy Sector Liberalization and large power company investors such as Canadian Solarmon Energy Corp and American-Based Green RG as stated in the article “Solamon Energy Corp & Green RG invest in Jamaica's Alternative Energy Future - Let the Cheaper Energy Hunger Games for Latin America Begin”, heralding cheaper electricity, a definite attraction of power-intensive ICT Sector Companies
Only this time, the Call Center
Operators in question, Cincinnati, Ohio-based company, Convergys and US-based Aegis
Communications Ltd, two (2) Fortune 500 companies hailing out of the US of A,
are interested in more than just renting a building and using some slightly
used Computers to run their Call Center, based on my first hand experience with
working at ACS-Xerox.
Rather, Convergys is planning to
build theirs [Call Center] from scratch in Montego
Bay, with the intention to employ approximately one thousand
(1000) CSA (Customer Service Agents) upon completion of their facility in the
First Quarter of 2013AD.
They also have plans for more than
three thousand (3000) eventually as stated in the article “New call
centre for MoBay” Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner
Writer, The Sunday Gleaner. Worth
repeating that number again, folks; that is a lot of idle people off the
streets and no longer thinking of committing crimes.
This culled from
the words of JAMPRO President Sancia Templer, quote: “They will start
construction this year and have decided that they want to have a strong
presence here, developing their own ICT centre. When you put brick and mortar
in a country it means you are in that country for the long haul”.
Clearly, the Jamaica Investment
Forum had the direct interest of the Minister of Government, who now realizes,
more than ever, that their long-term future rests in encouraging FDI to come
and invert in Jamaica.
Whether they plan
to use Jamaica as
springboard to offer Call center services to Spanish–speaking countries in Latin
America is not Jamaica’s
concern. After all, we should be very grateful and feel extremely lucky that Cuba is still under an embargo sanctioned by the
US Government, making Jamaica
the ideal launching pad.
All this because
we are an English-speaking country!!!! We seriously need to thank the British
for chasing away the Spanish in 1655!
Moreover, the gain
in terms of Taxes, Licenses and employment to unemployment has political
benefits as well for the PNP (People’s National Party) currently in power and
seeking to remain in power by being an arbiter of Growth and development. Even
if this is really a follow-on of the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) Macroeconomic
Stabilization Policies………
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