THE Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) has remained upbeat about achieving its goal to create 60,000 jobs by 2022, its top official said.
Hajee Birth Aquino, president of BNEFIT, told SunStar Bacolod that the local ICT council has remained strong and true to its commitments to the people it serves.
Aquino said the organization continues to work hand-in-hand with the industry and academe in maintaining a healthy pool of talents which has been one of the greatest assets of the city.
"BNEFIT is as focused as ever and we remain to be steadfast to the goals we have set forth," he said.
Coinciding with the Philippine ICT Roadmap, the 60,000 full-time jobs target in Negros Occidental and its capital Bacolod City was set in 2016.
As of September 2019, the local information technology - business process management (IT-BPM) industry employs at least 33,000 workers in the province with about 30 locators, including small-scale players.
"We are now close to 35,000. Though we have yet to confirm the figure but we are hoping to close the year at 40,000 jobs," the council president added.
Companies such as Knight Frank and Colliers International continue to see the city as a prime location for their clients looking to invest outside of Metro Manila and Metro Cebu.
As it has already proven its capabilities on the voice sector since 2014, BNEFIT is now heavily investing its resources to cultivate jobs on other sectors such as non-voice accounts, knowledge process outsourcing (KPOs), health care industries, creatives, game development and software development to name a few.
New players
Aquino said that in 2019, through the efforts of the organization led by its chairman Lawyer Jocelle Batapa Sigue, the group welcomed the entry of Slide Genius to the city.
Slide Genius aims to create 200 to 300 full-time jobs in the creatives sector in the next year or two.
For the organization, this is another proof that Bacolod is a prime location for creative industries thus, paving the way for more companies to see the growth potentials of the city outside of the voice sector.
Aquino further said the positive results of a recently concluded focused group discussion with a multinational software development company gives hope to the organization to bring in 1,500 more jobs to the city in the next two years starting as early as the third quarter of the year.
"With two more companies knocking on our doorstep, we are looking at a very positive year for the city and the province as far as employment in the ICT sector is concerned," he noted.
Recognizing challenges
To deal with the current challenges hounding the industry and to adapt to the future trends, the council recognized that a restructuring was needed for the organization.
On Thursday, BNEFIT's current officers with its incorporators met for a "re-envisioning" for the future of the organization.
Aquino said gathering the incorporators who created BNEFIT in 2008 was aimed at creating a stronger by-laws for the organization.
Aquino said this is also to encourage new generation leaders to lead the vision established by the founders into the new decade.
"With the new organizational by-laws, we are hoping and we strongly invite all ICT companies and institutions as well as other businesses using ICT to become a member and enjoy the benefits of collaboration and advancements in the technology it could apply to their respective operations," he added.
Looking forward
The BNEFIT official, moreover, expressed hope that such initiatives would result to a more agile and dynamic organization ready to face the challenges of the future.
Aside from remaining vigilant to the vision and mission of the organization, the council is looking forward to ensuring inclusive growth throughout the entire province.
Aquino said one of the initiatives being pushed by the organization is to focus its resources to helping grow component cities become ready to replicate the successes of Bacolod.
These component cities include Kabankalan, San Carlos, Cadiz, Himamaylan and Sipalay.
To kickstart this initiative, a program dubbed "TriCity ICT Caravan" will be launched this year
"We plan to bring industry players to these cities to inspire the stakeholders and to stimulate the community towards ICT developments," he added.