My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - 8000 Jobs coming after US$33 million Loan from DGJ floated for 8 Call Centers

Friday, July 11, 2014

How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - 8000 Jobs coming after US$33 million Loan from DGJ floated for 8 Call Centers




Looks like more Call Centers are on the way for Jamaica, eight at least valued at some US$33 million as stated in “US$33-m BPO projects in the pipeline”, published Wednesday, July 09, 2014, The Jamaica Observer.

So says the notes mentioned in the GOJ's Prospectus for their Government Bond issue as posted on the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) Website. Government Bond issued recently successfully raised some US$800 million as explained in “Record Haul! Jamaica Raises US$800m From External Bond Market”, Published Wednesday July 2, 2014, by Avia Collinder, Business Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner and “Jamaica issues US$800-m eurobond, published Wednesday”, July 02, 2014, The Jamaica Observer.

Some of that money is being used to float a DBJ (Development Bank of Jamaica) Loan to finance these eight (8) BPO Projects, mainly Call Centers. A Loan that’s more than justified, as Call Centers have proven themselves to be a real money-maker for the GOJ, bringing in some US$350 million in annual revenues!

If this announcement is real, then we’re looking at no more than eight thousand (8000) new Call Center jobs coming to Jamaica to add to the 14,000 alledgedly employed in this burgeoning but secret sector. This bring up the total number of members employed in the Call Center arena to a whopping 22,000, which is roughly 50% of the 45,000 figure quoted by BPIAJ Chairman and President Yoni Epstein as being the saturation point for the Call Center Industry.

Most likely this new batch of Call Center Workers will be housed in the expanding Montego Bay Freezone are and will thus be trained at the 200 seat Call Center Training Facility being built by the BPIAJ (Business Process Industry Association of Jamaica) as announced in my blog article entitled “How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - BPIAJ Call Center Agent Training School for US$900,000 as Montego Bay Freezone Expands”.

DBJ loan for 8 Call Centers – US$800 million windfall from GOJ EU Bond to expand a profitable Industry

This was expected, just not so quickly.

It comes on the heels of the positive review by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) head Christine LaGarde over a three (3) day period now concluded as stated in “Christine Lagarde Impressed By Awareness Of Jamaica's Need For Economic Reform” published Sunday June 29, 2014 10:48 am, The Jamaica Gleaner, we’ve slowly begun to reap the benefits of her positive words and actions.

Bearing a Coupon Rate of 7.65% to about 8% per annum, this new GOJ Euro Bond has the lowest Coupon Rate in all of Jamaica's time going to the EU Capital Markets to borrow money. These new GOJ Euro Bonds were underwritten by Citibank and France's BNP and were oversubscribed to the tune of US$800 million . They're can be encashed after a 11 year period in 2025, with principal repayments made each year starting from 2023, 2024 and 2025 and are a bell-weather for the level of confidence that lenders of Credit have in the Jamaica Government.

It's the Yield Rate that the significant stat, as normally Developing World Economies like Jamaica are perceived as high risk investment only good for short term Bonds. Thus in the past, higher Coupon or Yield Rates had to be used to attract investors to effectively bet on the future profitability of the Jamaica's Productivity Sector driven by GOJ Regulations.

The fact that it got snapped up at such a low rate, was oversubscribed and even better, surpassed its initial target of US$500 million suggests that investor confidence in Jamaica's ability to turn itself around and start achieving Growth in the Long term is high. To that end, this justified the lower Coupon rate; the Investors are willing to invest in a lower yield Bond which translates to longer periods and larger investments, knowing that they're confident of getting their money.

Best of all, this recent issue of GOJ Euro Bonds was done mostly via a Debt swap similar to the NDX (National Debt Exchange) back in 2012 as explained in my blog article entitled “Jamaican Government to implement NDX, essentially JDX2 2.0 to get IMF Agreement - Tax Reform and FDI Investments Bullet to the Head and Oblivion”, except it involves GOJ Bonds issues on the International Markets.

These new GOJ Euro Bonds gave previous holders of the previous set of GOJ Euro Bond, valued at some EU 150 Million with a Coupon Rate of 10.5% per annum, chance to swap them for this newer, low yield GOJ Euro Bond valued at 7.65% to 8% per annum.

The fact that the new GOJ Euro Bond was oversubscribed suggests that now only did the Bond Swap work, but new buyers of these GOJ Euro Bond bought Bonds as well. Holders of the older 10.5% per annum GOJ Bonds issues may has also brought additional Bonds along with the ones that they swapped out.

Eight Call Centers Coming - Call Center Jobs for Montego Bay Peeps

So when will these 8000 jobs appear in the Call Center Sector so you can go hopping off in a bid to expand your career and rise higher in the field? Not any time soon I’m afraid; this looks like around next year, as expansion work is ongoing within the Montego Bay Freezone area.

It’ll be a huge relief to those of you still seeking work to know that more may be coming in the future.  Just stay tuned to the Social Media Grapevine on your smartphone and this blog!

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