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Thursday, March 17, 2005
Ng: Pitching Cebu to investors
By Wilson Ng
Wired Desktop
BIG EVENT. Last week, there was a big event in Shangri-la Mactan called the Philippines Investment Conference. The delegates numbered about 500.
This was organized by Euromoney Magazine, an influential publication that has in its roster some of the biggest institutional fund investors. Among the 100 or so foreign delegates were many who had under their fund management hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars for capital market investments.
That was the reason why the president of the Philippines and most of her Cabinet, like DTI Secretary Juan Santos, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Neda Secretary Romulo Neri and Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, were all here.
Some of the country’s biggest taipans, like Jollibee boss Tony Tan Caktiong, Ayala’s Fernando Zobel, PLDT’s Manny Pangilinan, GSIS’ Winston Garcia, SM’s Teresita Sy-Coson, Innove’s Gil Genio and Globe’s Gerardo Ablaza were also here.
The contact centers, Cebu’s newest blazing industry, were also well represented. Among the people spotted were e-Telecare chief executive officer Fred Ayala, PeopleSupport CEO Bong Borja and SPI Technologies CEO Ernest Cu.
One of the most commented on and positive presentations was by the provincial government of Cebu. I was honored to be part of Governor Gwen’s team that presented on behalf of Cebu. Together with me were Patrick Gregorio, president of Waterfront Philippines, Joel Mari Yu of Cebu Investment Promotions Center, and Cesar Atienza, economic consultant to the governor.
The presentation was a result of very long and serious preparations that were also attended by Marissa Fernan and John Byron Garcia of the Provincial Government, Robert Go and Gary Huguelat of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tony Pineda of Isuzu Cebu and scores of others.
The governor was her most charming self, and the moderator, Mark Johnson, who was an experienced panelist, actually stammered a couple of times talking to her. He directed most questions to her, which she answered ably.
One of the comments heard by a Cebuano in the audience was by one of the foreign investors who said: “I think I am falling in love with Cebu… and the Cebu governor.”
One of the things I believe will grow, and which was confirmed by Fred Ayala and Ernest Cu in the business process outsourcing (BPO) and call center forum, was that Cebu has all the requisites to continue to grow the business.
There is currently a hiccup in the industry with many of the companies that have set up here complaining that there is now an increasingly difficult situation of hiring qualified people.
While this is valid, I would like to remind everyone that from almost zero 18 months ago, the call center industry has boomed to 14 firms hiring over 5,000 people.
Any growth of this kind is not only phenomenal but unsustainable. There will be short periods of consolidation, but I think Cebu, being the center of commerce and education in Southern Philippines, can easily match the demand.
There are now programs underway to address this. In three or four years, we should be able to hit probably 15,000 to 20,000 seats in the contact centers, as well as continue to grow on the BPO, software development and medical transcription areas.
(www.bizdrivenlife.net)
(March 17, 2005 issue)
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