How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - BPIAJ Call Center Agent Training School for US$900,000 as Montego Bay Freezone Expands

“.....through well-developed and reliable infrastructure, a highly literate workforce, excellent telecommunication facilities, competitive labour costs and near-shore advantage”.

BPIAJ Chairman Yoni Epstein, commenting on the US$900,000 ($100.8 million) Loan from the IDB for the BPIAJ Call Center Agent Training School

Folks, I’ve got news for the Call Center World that’s more exciting than Call Center Agents at ACCENT Marketing, Xerox or FullGram Solutions debating what Neville Bell should choose as part of his Hairdo makeover!

Remember that article I did entitled ” How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - Online Travel Booking Agency Bookit.com is expanding in Jamaica with 200 plus CSA's as Online Travel Booking Industry explodes in 2014” on the BPIAJ (Business Process Industry Association of Jamaica) setting up an incubator to train Call Center Agents in the Montego Bay area? 

Well they’ve up and gone and done it folks, by securing the very same US$900,000 ($100.8 million) via a Loan from the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) to build a 200 seat Call Center Training Facility in the Montego Bay free zone.

Inadvertently, this'll create some 600 jobs for Supervisors, Trainers and Quality Assurance peeps who'll no doubt be recruited to run this unique Training School for Call Center Agents. At US$900,000, it's by far cheaper than the US$25 million that was spent to build the 100,000 square-foot facility for Vistaprint back in 2011!

Interestingly, the IDB, which financed the BPIAJ Call Center Agent Training School, is looking to source an additional US$20 million from the PetroCaribe Development Fund to build more Office Space for the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) Sector aka Call Centers. Loans will be disbursed in US$5 million per project to cover 70% of the cost at an interest rate of 4.5% per annum on a reducing balance for BPO's to build out their facilities.

BPIAJ Call Center Agent Training School – Cheaper by far as Montego Bay Freezone Expands

This Training facility is more than justified, as by itself, this 200-seater facility which can employ 1800 persons can generate some US$15 million while Training everything from Call Center Agents, Call Center Supervisors to Quality Assurance Agents. At US$350 million annually, the BPO's aka the Call Center Sector as I like to call it, is a veritable GOJ Cash Cow.

They're even gone as far as to cite it as example of employment being provided for the High School Leavers with salaries as high as JA$300 per hour. That's not enough to live on, but considering the fact that there's no work about, that's not too bad if you still live at home. 

The Sector is expected to increase by some 50% and 7000 new jobs are expected to add to the Sector that now counts some 14,000 employed. Jamaica is even becoming a hub for Quality Assurance Services as exemplified by the recent granting of a Contract to Fullgram Solutions to provide same to US-based Education Source as explained in my blog article entitled “How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - FullGram International lands US$20 million dollar Quality Assurance Contract with US-based Education Source”.

This new Facility comes at a time of Expansion in the Montego Bay Freezone Area. 800,000 square feet is earmarked for further developement in the Montego Bay Freezone Area for additional Call Center Facilities, with the Barnett Technology Park already investing some US$8.5 million to expand their patch of Seats by 50,000 Square feet. Based on the article writer's estimates, that’s 720 Seats, using the approximation of a Call Center facility that's 60 to 70 square feet in size.

Assuming that, like any typical Call Center they have three eight hour shifts i.e. 6am-2pm, 2pm-10pm and 10pm-6pm, this can translate to over 2,160 jobs in the Call Center World. That's 2,160, almost as much as the 1,800 for the BPIAJ Training School

Clearly, with this facility in place by the end of 2014, around the same time as the slated completion of the Barnett Technology Park, Jamaica is emerging as a hub for BPO in the Western Hemisphere.