Political noise won’t affect foreign investors’ interest in RP – BPO exec

Foreign businessmen who visited the country recently said the political noise which has plagued the country had minimal effect on the appetite for investments.

Chris Sullivan, managing director of Deutsche Knowledge Services described the political noise as “high frequency but low impact.”

Sullivan, together with other business process outsourcing (BPO) executives, visited the country last week for the 8th eServices Global Sourcing Conference.

According to Sullivan, the coup attempt in November staged by Sen. Antonio Trillanes and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim had no effect on the operations of their local office.

Sullivan said the government was able to manage the risks well.

Despite the political turmoil, Sullivan said their business has been thriving. Deutsche Knowledge Services has in fact increased its profitability by 20 percent in the past three years.

For his part, Alexis Sukharev, president of Auriga announced he was impressed with the way the Philippine government has supported the local industry.

His statement was supported by Marc Granic, president of Mera Networks.

“You are lucky to have the support of your President that is real and sincere,” Granic said referring to the P350 million government support for talent development in the outsourcing industry. 

The two-day eServices conference brought together suppliers and buyers in the industry which highlighted the country’s openness to looking at the outsourcing industry from a global perspective.