Last Updated- May 27, 2009 7:27 - - 4 Comments


Business Outsourcing to create 40,000 jobs in Ghana in five years

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 modem 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 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 DanieJ 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 2000, 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.

Source: Daily Graphic

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Comments

4 Responses to “Business Outsourcing to create 40,000 jobs in Ghana in five years”

  1. Nsubuga Jamiru on August 1st, 2009 3:51 pm

    I’m a Ugandan with bachelor of information degree and acertified data entrant with over 10 years experience in data entry.

    I need to be employent from ACS it has not come to Uganda

    I look forward to your positive response

  2. Omotayo Tola on September 2nd, 2009 5:22 pm

    I’m a Nigerian with bachelor of Business Admin degree and associate of data processing and management institute with over 6 years experience in data entry.

    I need to be employ in Ghana

    I look forward to your positive response

  3. Courage Ansah on October 7th, 2009 10:23 am

    I also a young ghanaian with IT skills hoping that the constraint that are hampering the smooth employment of the youth in this data outsourcing industrial would be lifted to enable we most of the majority of the youth who are unemployed get a job so that we can earn a living so that we can live a decent lifes

  4. emmanuel on November 18th, 2009 12:31 pm

    can you send me lists of companies where I can get contract to process data for that company. My company is young one. Thank you. 0245014466

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