Saturday, July 05, 2008 IT firm in Singapore plans to locate here
A SINGAPORE-based investor is interested in putting up a call center company in Davao City, according to the director of the Board of Investments (BOI) for Mindanao.
BOI chief for Mindanao Gil Dureza said Samuel Acosta, information technology (IT) manager, and Alvin Nathan, director of the Eureka Advisory PTE Ltd., have already visited the city for this perspective.
"They already visited Davao and they enjoyed the climate here. They moved around by night, they noticed the presence of some foreign-based companies and were convinced that Davao City is a secure place," Dureza said.
He said Acosta and Nathan also inspected the labor market of Davao and realized it is good.
"They plan to put up a call center company here because in Singapore, there is a very fast turnover of the labor market resulting in shortage of manpower," Dureza said.
He added that in Singapore, the lowest rate of an IT staff is P50,000 per month.
As to the image problem of Mindanao, Dureza said the investors did not mind the risk.
"Acosta is actually from Cotabato City, so he is used to that image perception," Dureza said.
He said Davao City is far better than Cotabato in terms of peace and security.
Initially, Dureza said if the perspective of the investors will materialize, a capacity of 50- to 80- seater call center company will then be added to the expanding number of call center companies in Davao City.
Davao City now has six to seven call center companies, said Dureza. (JGRS)
