BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING TO GENERATE 40,000 JOBS (PAGE 30)

A programme under which some companies in the West send their business transactions to Ghana for processing for a fee and later returned to them, known as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), is expected to generate 40,000 jobs for people with basic skills in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the next five years.
This is the outcome of a study conducted by the World Bank and the Ministry of Communications on business outsourcing in Ghana.
Presently, the first major company in BPO, Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), is providing 1,100 jobs for the youth with basic technical skills in keying in on the computer.
This came to light when the Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, who was on a working visit to institutions under his ministry, toured the premises of ACS.
He expressed the commitment of the government to scout for land for the construction of production sites if that would help in providing mass employment for the youth in business outsourcing in Ghana.
He said what was interesting in business outsourcing was that the youth with minimum qualifications who formed the majority of the unemployed in the country would find jobs, and so would graduates with degrees and diplomas.
He said the government was determined to remove the constraints hampering the smooth take-off of companies engaged in business outsourcing.
He announced that three Information Technology parks would be established soon in Tema, Akuapem and a location in the Central Region to attract business outsourcing companies into the country .
He said the government was fully convinced about the potential of BPO to reduce youth unemployment within the shortest possible time in the country.
Mr Haruna said the ministry was in the process of developing modern infrastructure for the ICT industry in the country to offer cost effective connectivity for operators in the industry.
He said Ghana could not afford to remain as an emerging market by paying lip service to business outsourcing, saying that the government would ensure that the cost of the bandwidth in the country was reduced to enable as many people as possible to be connected to the Internet as a strategy for minimising unemployment in the country.
Mr Haruna said the government was ready to remove taxes on the importation of mobile phones, as well as computers, so that the sector could contribute to the economic and social development of the country.
The Country Manager of ACS, Mr Daniel Otoo Asare, informed the minister that because of lack of incentives, many outsourcing companies were being attracted to India, China and the Far East.
He said Ghana was still an attractive investment destination because it was stable and safe, compared to other countries which were offering incentives to attract outsourcing jobs.
He, however, said the cost of labour in Ghana was still twice higher than major destinations such as India and China and advised Ghanaian workers to work hard to justify their high remuneration.
The Country Manager said ACS started with 66 workers in 2,000, with a projection of hitting a set target of 5,000 jobs in 2005 but because of the economic downturn and factors such as cost of production, the company was only able to employ 1,100.
Mr Asare gave the assurance that all was not lost if Ghana was committed to moving from the emerging market status to a major market in the shortest possible time.