When you think about the outsourcing industry you think about call centres – now those types of jobs aren't the highest paying jobs or aren't what you
would chose as a career path, but Acting Manager of Belize Invest Beltraide Hero Balani says these types of jobs are very helpful in developing a
person's basic skill set for the work force. And today at the first ever Belize Outsourcing Service Summit held at the Radisson - the importance of
this sector was highlighted. Balani told us more about the significance of this summit
Hero Balani - Acting Manager, Belize Invest
"As you know the business process out sourcing sector which deals with the contact call centre industry has been growing significantly in Belize and so
what Beltraide has done today is to really gather all the stakeholders that are involved in this industry included the Telecom providers, academia, the
private sector of course and then the public sector; in terms of our ministry, the bureau of standards is here. So what we are here to do today is to
really look at what the consultants are recommending for the next steps in the industries development."
Courtney Weatherburne
"So tell us more about the specific areas that the consultants are focusing on in terms of development, improving the out sourcing industry in Belize,
tell us more about that."
Hero Balani - Acting Manager, Belize Invest
"So essentially the project started it off in August of 2015 with the support of the commonwealth secretariat; today we have the consultants from OCO
Global who are going be advising on what they have found in Belize and essentially what they will be doing is advising us on the way forward for
strengthening our sector not only in the key areas of infrastructure, labour talent development but also trying to look at how we can do more value
added work in the BPO contact call centres. As you know we are doing most of the voice work, customer service and sales but we want to try to move
towards doing more value added work in terms of IT, bringing more knowledge based industries to Belize. So that is really one of the main objectives of
today's summit and the second is to look at developing a standards framework to look at how we can improve standards for employment in the industry."
"The BPO sector is actually what they have used as a stepping stone to their career and so yes, I will say the BPO sector is one that provides
employment opportunities. It gets you in the door and gives you that experience that you need."
Hon. Tracey Taegar Panton - Minister of State, Investment Trade & Commerce
"That sector for us, that new industry has grown substantially over the last couple of years in particular and it is expected to continue on upward
growth trajectory and so for us as a government it is important that we look at investment facilitation and creating the enabling environment in terms
of regulations and standards to allow the sector to continue to grow and to prosper."
There are currently 2,300 Belizeans employed in this sector and Minister of State in Investment Trade and Commerce Tracey Taegar Panton says they plan
to double that number by the end of this year. The main focus now is to incorporate more Information technology training
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