Two Leading Companies Open BPO Facilities in Mo-Bay

Two of the world’s leading Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies have officially opened new plants at the multi-million dollar Barnett Tech Park in Montego Bay, promising close to 2,000 new jobs before year’s end.

Xerox, the largest business process provider in Jamaica, and Advanced Call Centre Technologies (ACT) have announced that coming close on the heels of their newly opened state-of-the-art facilities, both will be doubling their investments with the creation of a combined 75,000 square feet each of production space.

Making the announcement at the official ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday (May 6),  President and Chief Executive Officer of ACT, Barnett Tech Park’s first investors, Joseph Lembo, announced that the company, which began operations at the park in December 2014, will be expanding to an additional 250,000 square feet.

Referring to the current staff complement of some 400 employees, Mr Lembo said, “it does not end there. We are already talking with them (Barnett Limited) about building a new facility, right within the tech park.”

The stand alone building, together with the occupied space will “within the next 24 months …. employ an additional 8,000 persons,” he said, pointing to the success of  his local workforce.

“What really makes this happen, is the people we have found here. They are wonderful. They have outperformed most of our competitors. Our business is very competitive and we earn business based on performance. Since we have taken over this part of the business, our team here has outshone most of our competitors,” Mr Lembo said.

ACT, which came to Jamaica in 2010 now boasts 9 offices in Montego Bay and plans to expand to 650 employees by this summer.

Meanwhile, Vice President Real Estate Facilities for Xerox, Tom Corne, in his presentation, also announced that his company will open a second 50,000 sq. ft. facility that will house another 900 employees.

Xerox, which is the largest business process provider in Jamaica, opened the door to its new 25,000 sq.  ft. facility in the Barnett Tech Park, which  employs 450 customer care agents

Mr.  Corne said that Xerox will also add three more Kingston-based customer care facilities during 2015, adding more than 1,000 agents to the company’s Jamaican employees, which currently exceed 6,000.

The agents in the new facilities will join Xerox’s 55,000 customer care agents around the world who handle more than 2.5 million interactions daily from 160 facilities in about 30 languages.

Giving an overview of the tech park, Managing Director of Developers, Barnett Limited,  Mark Kerr-Jarrett, said the dream is to create Jamaica’s first holistic and smart city, where employees will reside in close proximity to their workplace, educational and other facilities.

Plans are well advanced to start building out another 100,000 square feet of commercial space, in addition to the construction of dormitory style housing for young employees in the Park.

Once completed, it is projected that the Tech Park will provide a minimum of 8,000 new jobs.

The event was attended by top level government officials, including Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Anthony Hylton; Minister of Science Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon Phillip Paulwell; President of Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), Diane Edwards; senior representatives of ACT, Xerox, Barnett Tech Park as well as private sector organisations.

The Tech Park, financed by the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) and Barnett Limited, has received significant support from JAMPRO, the Business Process Outsourcing Association of Jamaica (BPIAJ) and the St. James Parish Council.