Saturday, August 30, 2008 Investors unfazed by skirmishes By Joy Romares-Sevilla
DESPITE the negative perception of some investors in Davao City, not to mention the skirmishes in some parts of Mindanao, the director of the Cyberservices Group of the Commission on ICT (CICT) said there are still a lot of investors who show interest to come to Mindanao, particularly to Davao City to put up or expand BPO related businesses.
Patricia Abejo, Cyberservices Group director of the CICT, said that being included in the top 10 Asian Cities of the Future in terms of human resources in the Finance Direct Investment (FDI) magazine, and also named as one of the world's best investment sites for BPO industry and global offshore ICT hubs in an ICT research, Davao City has a lot more opportunity to offer.
In her presentation, entitled "Davao, The Leader City Gearing the Mindanao Cyberservice," Abejo said Davao has been a key player in the BPO industry and is the only city in Mindanao that earned an award and distinction.
"Negative perception about Mindanao can be felt and was really a concern especially last year, but I understand that this has been changed. The perception might be there, but there have been moves to address that challenge," Abejo said.
Abejo said the BPO industry in the Philippines has an average growth of 53 percent for the last three years. She said CICT hopes that the growth will continue on a steady pace.
"As of the end of 2007, 300,000 jobs were generated in the BPO industry," Abejo said, adding that the industry is targeting to generate 1 million jobs by 2010 and about US$13 billion revenue.
Abejo is one of the speakers during the BPO Human Resource and Recruitment Forum held at the Royal Mandaya Hotel Friday.
The forum was initiated by the ICT of Davao Inc. to address the issues and concerns in the industry and to further develop strong partnership between the BPO companies and the education and training institutions.
