BPO companies support MBA facility at the SRP

CEBU, Philippines - Following the turn over of the Cebu City government of a five-hectare area at the South Road Properties to the University of the Philippines Cebu where the latter can build an MBA facility, some Business Process Outsourcing companies have expressed their support to the project.

Cebu City South District representative Tomas Osmeña said Aegis People Support recently expressed its support to the “green field” project saying that they will be sending their call center agents to pursue MBA.

Currently, Aegis People Support and the Cebu City government have created a joint training program to provide free trainings for the residents of Cebu City. The five-week skills development training normally costs P3,500 at People Support’s training arm, Aspire People Solutions Inc.

Aside from Aegis People Support, Osmeña said other BPO companies have also expressed their support to the UP-MBA facility at SRP to provide their agents with a more promising career ahead by pursuing MBA courses.

Earlier, Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Aegis PeopleSupport Bong Borja said that Cebu’s bid to position itself as an MBA hub, specifically for the BPO community, is a laudable move for a local government unit such as Cebu.

Borja added that Cebu’s plan is well suited to attract the new wave of outsourcing investments, which includes the Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), which offers a higher salary grade than that of the voice-outsourcing services.

Currently, investment banks in the US, and analysis jobs requirement in the Wall Street are being outsourced, and the Philippines has the capacity to capture this multi-million-dollar industry, as long as it has enough manpower pool.

The Cebu City government recently turned over a five-hectare property which is equivalent to P500 million worth of property within SRP to the University of the Philippines-Cebu to establish the MBA school in the area.

UP, on the other hand, is allowed to get industry partners to invest for the facility in the next three years.

This move has gained attention from the BPO companies, such as Aegis People Support and others to join UP, in pursuing this program.

Lack of supervisory, or management level manpower is one of the problems identified by BPO players here.

Wipro-Philippines country head Romit Gupta, in an earlier interview said that one of the problems the company has encountered so far in their more than a year operations here, is the unavailability of mid-management manpower supply in Cebu.

Gupta said that Wipro is having difficulties in hiring managers, senior managers and supervisors, although hiring entry-level employees is much easier because of ample supply.

“Cebu has all the things that businesses are requiring for, except for the availability of senior management people,” he said.