BPO investments remain slow

CEBU, Philippines - Despite signs of economic recovery, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) investments remain sluggish in Cebu, Cebu Investments and Promotions Center (CIPC) said yesterday.

CIPC managing director Joel Mari S. Yu said investors especially BPOs are still very cautious in pursuing their expansion plans, especially in putting up new locations, and sites.

However, Yu said despite this development, existing players in the BPO sector are still expanding their workforce, which is good news for Cebuanos.

“BPO companies are still hiring,” he said adding that although there are no new investments, expansion moves managed to keep the economy in shape amid the weak economic environment.

He said although investment inquiries from new BPO companies remain weak, a handful of inquiries for future and possible locators still come in numbers.

“Our investment performance especially for BPO industry is largely dependent on US and Japan, never mind Europe. Europe is not a good source of investment,” Yu said.

Cebu will have to depend on the recovery of US and Japan, as these two are the strong sources of medium to big ticket investments.

“In tourism however, I heard that investments are still coming in, that’s also good for us. But for BPO, nothing is remarkable yet,” Yu said.

Earlier, Tholons chief executive officer (CEO) and founder Avinash Vashista urged Cebu to identify and highlight its niche in manpower supply in order to attract BPO investments from around the world.

“Cebu is now a leader among emerging BPO destinations but Cebu has to move and become one of the emerged destinations,” Vashista said.

He emphasized that in its bid to be among the line of emerged BPO cities in the world, Cebu has to further protect its manpower supply by engaging in more programs that will enhance the quality of its IT and IT-related graduates to increase their probability to be hired by IT companies.

He then urged for an intensified academe-industry-government linkage as well as infrastructure investments that will support the local ICT industry. He also zeroed in on the need for government to provide tax incentives for foreign ICT investors.

“Cebu needs enough economic zones to attract investors for the province to become a truly emerged BPO destination,” Vashista stressed.

Yu is certain, that once the economies of Japan and US rebounds, Cebu will have to prepare for the influx of investment from these countries, not only in BPO industry.

However, he said Cebu will have to be resolved that “it is no longer the darling of manufacturing investments—especially for Japanese investors, as it is already overtaken by China.

Cebu, on the other hand, is finding its niche in BPO and tourism investments, and these two industries will fuel growth of Cebu and sustain economic vibrancy of the province, Yu said.