Cebu to attract more BPO investments

CEBU, Philippines - Aside from capitalizing on Cebu's achievement as the 8th top outsourcing destination in the world, the province is taking on another strong proposition to attract more business process outsourcing (BPO) investments.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) information and communication technology (ICT) committee chairman Jerry Rapes said promoting Cebu as a “complete destination to watch out for” could all the more lure big ticket BPO investments here.

Rapes said selling Cebu as a complete destination with world-class infrastructure, ample supply of workforce, and tourism advantage could reinforce the interest of investors on Cebu.

Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (CEDFIT) executive director Jun Sa-a likewise said Cebu’s resort-ambiance as an island province is one of the top “come-ons” of the investors, aside from the obvious reasons of good IT infrastructure and skilled human resource pool.

Sa-a said the stress-filled nature of most BPO jobs needs a “resort-feel” ambiance like what Cebu is offering.

While the Philippines in general is now taking the spotlight as the next economic tiger in Asia, Cebu will strengthen its promotion to take the attention of high value BPO companies in areas of software development or the knowledge process outsourcing.

The software industry in the Philippines grew 50 percent to US$1.5 billion in 2012.

"The outsourcing market in the world is big," he said, adding that aside from US, large outsourcing market is also available in Europe and South America.

The Philippines produces over 500 thousand graduates every year with about 200 thousand from medical courses; 180 thousand, engineering and technical courses; and   120 thousand, management and business related courses.

With an annual average of  24,000 new Cebuano graduates from different colleges and universities, more and more skilled young people sign up for work in outsourcing companies and continue to build the reputation of Cebu as a leading destination for BPO.

“Cebu is currently poised as an outsourcing star. Let us continue to gain an edge on the prevailing competitive landscape of  the global service outsourcing industry,” said Cebu Investment and Promotions Center (CIPC) managing director Joel Mari Yu.

In 2011, Cebu only had a total of  75 thousand people working in the BPO/ICT sector; about 11 thousand were added to the workforce last year by the new companies that opened here, while about five thousand people got their jobs via the expansion of existing BPO firms.

Known as one of Cebu’s growth pillars, the ICT/BPO industry saw  rapid growth expansion since the start of 2012.

“In 2012 alone, there were approximately 56 inquiries received by our office. These clients were in the IT/BPO sector, which is considered as the ‘sunshine industry’ of Cebu,” Yu said.

 According to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) assistant regional director Efren Carreon, basing on the average minimum monthly salary of P20,000 per employee, the money that will be out in circulation because of the presence of BPO sector will  be at least P1 billion, with the sector’s total employees  close to 100 thousand. /JMD (FREEMAN)