Heart/ NSTA Trust Training Persons For Global Services Sector

Persons looking to enter the global services sector (GSS) are being encouraged to access training at the HEART/ NSTA Trust.

Managing Director of the agency, Dr. Taneisha Ingleton, said that training is offered in several areas that align with industry needs.

“Our programmes are designed in close collaboration with industry leaders, including the Global Services Association of Jamaica and the Montego Bay Free Zone (MBFZ),” she noted.

“This ensures that our graduates are not only skilled but job ready. Oftentimes, we have the qualifications, but we do not necessarily have the aligned competence and that is why training is so important,” she emphasised.

Dr. Ingleton was addressing an open day and job fair staged by the MBFZ on Friday (May 9) at its location in the Montego Bay Freeport.

The event, which formed part of the organisation’s 40th anniversary celebrations, showcased employment and investment opportunities available within the zone. It targeted students, job seekers, and persons looking to make business investments.

A subsidiary of the Port Authority of Jamaica, the MBFZ’s main activity is the rental of office and factory spaces in the Montego Bay Freeport area.

It is a hub for business process outsourcing (BPO) and information and communications technology (ICT) entities.

Dr. Ingleton noted that the MBFZ was established to attract investments, create jobs and boost exports.

“Today, it is home to several global companies that operate in areas such as business process outsourcing, information technology enabled services and shared services and all that means for you is opportunity,” she told the scores of persons in attendance.

She pointed out that the GSS employs over 50,000 Jamaicans and contributes over US$1billion per annum to the economy.

“It is Jamaica’s second largest foreign exchange earner after tourism,” she said.

Vice President of Business Process Outsourcing and Logistics at the Port Authority of Jamaica, Gloria Henry, in her remarks, said that the open day and job fair was designed to give persons “a chance to tap into the various job opportunities within the global services sector and see what is available at the free zone.”

She noted that while the Port Authority manages some two million square feet of special economic zones on the island, the MBFZ is the largest facilitator of BPO services in the country and is a hub for commercial and industrial investments.