Local Guyanese Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company Emerge BPO is developing a new Georgetown campus that will significantly increase its capacity ahead of expected growth in the industry.
This was revealed by the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Heidi Solomon-Orlick, and its Vice-President of Operations Dalgleish Joseph in an interview with the Sunday Stabroek.
“We have our two accounts that have been with us for quite a long time. One account has been with us for over 10 years and our other client has been with us for about six years. Of course, our goal is… to grow with those clients, but really, as an organisation we are starting to pivot and we are looking at putting a very international focused effort on bringing additional companies into Guyana and partnering with companies that we can support from a BPO perspective,” Solomon-Orlick said.
She explained that part of the reason for their investment in the new campus, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year, is anticipated growth, and she noted that they are trying to get ahead of the curve. She added that the anticipated growth in the industry is independent of the development of the oil and gas industry, although she pointed out that it would assist the growth of the BPO industry through securing more exposure for the country.
“When companies think about outsourcing their business to a near-shore destination, Guyana is definitely not a priority destination that they are looking at,” she noted, while explaining that this is as a result of the country not being adequately promoted in the industry, as it might not have been an economic priority to the government up until last year.
She said the campus will be located on Camp Street in the recently-constructed IPA building, where they have since rented five of its six floors. The 9,000 square feet area will have a state-of-the-art recruitment centre, which Solomon-Orlick said will be “super hip and super colourful,” since they are targeting a millennial workforce of 1,500 to 2,000.
She emphasised that the fact that Guyana has not been on the radar of larger players in the BPO industry works to their benefit, since the country has been resonating with prospective clients that they are currently in discussions with about their business.
“The fact that it’s the only English-speaking country [in South America]… no accent issues as you would have in other places like India… Its eastern time zone and the fact that there is going to be improved infrastructure coming from the oil and gas industry will be a big thing,” she explained, while noting that it is also 30 to 35% cheaper to do business than any other near-shore destination that clients would normally outsource their business to.
Joseph also noted the fact that big American brands, such as Jaxx and Hardrock Café, which have come to the MovieTowne Mall, are also going to be a pull factors, since previously tentative clients will now be more open to coming to Guyana to do business.
The first floor of the campus is scheduled to be completed by the end of the July, and the company is expected to move over 120 people from its current building on Middle Street to the new campus.
In terms of their projected growth over the next five to ten years, Solomon-Orlick said that they can see at least 3,000 more employees being added to the company, a target that is scalable.
“The country in five years from now is not going to look anything like it does today and the benefit is that it is not saturated like some other markets, such as Jamaica that has over 36,000 people in the BPO industry,” Joseph pointed out, while noting that currently, Guyana has over 3,000 employees in the industry.
He said that they are also exploring the option of collaborating with the other BPO companies in the country to collectively promote Guyana as a destination choice for BPO, creating an even playing field and discussing issues that are currently affecting the industry and assistance they could get from the Government.
