Heart Trust/NTA Addressing Training Gaps in BPO Sector
Photo: Claudia Gardner
Senior Director of Corporate Planning and Strategic Development at the HEART Trust/ NTA, Nicole Manning, makes her presentation at a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) job fair at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in St. James on March 8.
The HEART Trust/NTA is increasing its collaboration with employers in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector in order to design programmes to meet their employment and training needs.
Senior Director of Corporate Planning and Strategic Development at the agency, Nicole Manning, said that in addition to call centres operations, there are numerous job opportunities available within the industry.
As such, she said, the HEART Trust is “trying to change the face and the conversation with persons,” as well as “train and equip them to take their place in this industry.”
“We want to make sure we have the training and certification aligned. If we are going to develop the human capital needs, then we have to have a closer relationship with you, so this is very critical,” she noted.
“We want to make sure that where you would have seen your gaps, for you to tell us so that we can close those gaps. What we want to do is to ensure that your business is efficient. If your business is efficient, then it will mean that you will get more business and if you get more business, then it will mean that you are employing more persons,” she added.
Ms. Manning was speaking to BPO managers at a job fair staged by the agency at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in St. James on March 8.
She said the training institution is economic growth-focused.
“We are actually looking at it (BPO sector) for growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a big contributor to this is employment…Jamaica actually is seeing the returns in the BPO industry,” she noted.
Director of Skills and Development for the Business Process Industry Association of Jamaica (BPIAJ), Marvin Tulloch, said his organisation will continue to work with the HEART Trust/ NTA within the parameters of a recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
Under the agreement, the Trust will provide wide-ranging skills training for Jamaicans to take advantage of jobs in the sector.
Mr. Tulloch, who is also Country Manager of Centerfield Jamaica, said BPO has become Jamaica’s fastest-growing sector in recent years and globally, it is a multi-trillion dollar industry.
He pointed out that the Government has targeted BPO as a critical sector for job creation and economic growth and there is a plan to train and certify 200,000 people by 2020.
Mr. Tulloch said it is going to take “collective commitment across the board to really get Jamaica to become one of the BPO countries of choice.”
“This sector is a major pillar for economic growth for this country and we really can’t take it for granted. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us,” he added.
