A tide that lifts all boats

MANILA, Philippines - Benjamin Francis Antonio, 35, enjoys working and playing with everything “fishy.” On days when he is not taking care of his 240-gallon cichlid fish tank at home and operating his bangus (milkfish) fish pen in Laguna Lake, he goes sportsfishing as far away as Palawan and Aparri for the thrill of catching 10-kilo tanigues and trevallies.

A computer science graduate from De La Salle University, Antonio’s stock knowledge about his scaly friends is obtained from his parents and the family business, but a large portion of it is reeled in from the Internet, especially information about new technology.

“My knowledge in the science of fish keeping has vastly improved, thanks to the voluminous information I found on the Internet. Forums found on the web helped me increase my contacts base as well, from suppliers of equipment and materials to potential business partners,” Antonio said.

Fishermen, farmers, small and medium-scale businessmen are discovering an entire world of resources on the World Wide Web – a development that is leveling the playing field in the business sector in new and innovative ways – and has transformed the image of the traditional farmer or fisherman in grubby clothes and dirty feet.

These days, they are surfing the Internet for business opportunities, sending buy and sell information through their mobile phones, and attending online classes to gain skills in marketing and developing their produce. They are part of a rapidly growing community of Internet users in developing countries, which has grown tenfold from 2000 to 2007.

“High-speed Internet is key to economic growth and job creation in developing countries,” says a new World Bank Group report entitled “Information and Communications for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact.”

The report said every 10 percentage-point increase in high-speed Internet connections speed up economic growth by 1.3 percentage points. The mobile platform is now the single most powerful way to reach and deliver public and private services to people in remote and rural areas across the developing world.

The Philippines is now one of the top destinations for IT services and IT Enabled Services (ITES) in the world, the report said. This is a development that enhances prospects for businessmen in the agriculture sector like Antonio and creates employment in the ICT sector, provides quality and high-paying jobs especially for women and the youth, increases productivity and exports and even promotes social inclusion.

Consider the statistics, total IT services and ITES revenues in the country reached $6 billion in 2008, up from $100 million in 2001. As of mid-2008, the industries employed 345,000 people, up from 100,000 in 2004. Moreover, in the Philippines, as in India, workers in this sector are typically paid 50 to 100 percent more than in other service jobs and tend to fall into the top income quintile.

Since universities in the Philippines offer courses in finance and accounting similar to those in the US, the Philippines has become a natural choice for US banks and financial institutions seeking to offshore parts of their operations. This is already Knowledge Process Outsourcing, a new playground for companies in the industry, and the industry appears to have promising prospects in the country because of the huge supply of highly skilled Filipino engineers, accountants, and animation artists, just to name a few.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) sees the industry doubling its share of the global market to 10 percent from 5 percent. BPAP estimates that the industry can generate up to $13 billion in revenue by the end of 2010, and employ close to one million.

 “Employment of this scale means that the sector would account for 27 percent of all new jobs created in the country by 2010,” the study said.

What’s more, the BPAP estimates that each new job created in IT services and ITES in the Philippines results in two to three new jobs in other sectors.

The study showed that an increase in direct employment of 600,000 people by 2010 would create 1.2 million to 1.8 million additional new jobs indirectly as employees consume housing, food, transport, and consumer goods and employers invest in telecommunications, building rentals, water, and other core services. By 2010, the IT services and ITES industries could represent as much as 8.5 percent of gross domestic product.

“Access to broadband completes the information foundation for a modern economy and should be a priority in national development plans,” says Katherine Sierra, World Bank vice president for Sustainable Development. “Governments can play a key role in expanding broadband access by policies and incentives that encourage competition and private investment.”

For Antonio, high-speed Internet and mobile phone services are indeed tides that lift all boats, especially in a country like the Philippines where the virtual economy produces real and much-needed business growth. And where there’s growth, there’s sure to be people who will consume more of his scaly friends and boost his business.

This article is based on materials published by the World Bank Philippines in www.worldbank.org.ph