Dutch outsourcing firm opens facility in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - Lighthouse Holdings B.V., a Dutch outsourcing company, recently opened a software development and data processing facility in Cebu, its second facility in Asia next to China.

The availability of good software developers and impressive government support for outsourcing investors in Cebu has pushed the company to choose Cebu as its second location in Asia, said Willem-Geert Lagemaat the company’s chief executive officer (CEO).

“We’re here because we need a qualified team. So far we have found very good people. Culturally, it’s much easier to operate here [compared to people in China],” Lagemaat said referring to the good English speaking manpower pool.

The company set up the Lighthouse Software Cebu Inc., and started its initial operations in June of this year at the Asia Town IT Park.

This time, as the company decided to expand its operations in Cebu, and transferred location to a new building developed by AboitizLand Inc. called iMEZ at the Mactan Export Zone (MEZ-2).

Lighthouse Holdings already invested at least P17 million (or 250,000 Euro) since its establishment in Cebu. However, Lagemaat said the company is expecting to invest more to one million Euro in a year’s time, as it is expanding its operations here especially in software development.

The Lighthouse IP Group, headquartered in The Netherlands consists of four companies focusing on various aspects of Intellectual Property.

Lighthouse Intellectual Property is active in the field of visualization and analysis of information from Intellectual Property (IP) including the translation and development of tools. Through its tools and solutions Lighthouse Intellectual Property offers comprehensive and understandable insight in the value of corporate IP.

Lighthouse IP Consultancy is a specialized consultancy firm focusing on the use of Intellectual Property within medium sized enterprises. Its main activities are in the field of risk analysis, knowledge protection, knowledge and corporate continuity and the effective use of IP in reaching strategic corporate goals.

Lighthouse IP Staffing is a service organization aiming at staffing of IP related jobs. The services include recruitment of IP staff, providing a platform for exchange of vacancies, outplacement, training and education, candidate selection and career management.

To date, the Cebu office has maintained 12 software developers and it targets to employ a total of 50 programmers or software developers here in the next few months, said Christa Deinum, Lighthouse senior vice president.

Also, the company is planning to expand its data processing operations here, aside from the software development.

The company’s software development arm the Lighthouse Software Europe (LSE). LSE is a software development company specialized in developing software through its outsourcing center in China and recently in Cebu.

The Cebu operations in software development will also focus on growing its Web Solutions group in the next 10 to 15 years.

In the last couple of years, Cebu's software development sector generated about an average US$60 million a year. This year, this figure is expected to double. — Ehda M. Dagooc   (