This year’s theme, “Driving Excellence”:
The Business Process Industry Association of Jamaica (BPIAJ) is a non-profit and non-governmental organization. The BPIAJ represents all segment of the outsourcing industry and Information, Communications Technology companies doing business in Jamaica.
The BPIAJ’s overall goal is to lobby the government on behalf of the ICT-BPO operators to improve the operating and regulatory environment, to assist member companies as a group in positioning their interest and competitive advantages; and to promote the image of the business sector in Jamaica, the region and the World.
Jamaica, the leading English-speaking Outsourcing destination in the region
To represent, grow and diversify Jamaica’s outsourcing industry thereby creating quality jobs for its citizens by supporting and attracting businesses in the industry across the country.
In the mid-2000s it was recognized that the BPO sector at that time was known as the ICT or Telemarketing sector was growing faster than the supporting infrastructure. The sector was at the time being accommodated under the Jamaica Export Free Zone regime, but it was soon realized that the regime was designed to support the productive sector and that services sector was not represented in the specific areas of needs. Then there was the absence of suitable legislation to support cybercrime and many other activities that were moving faster than the policy makers could respond. The gaps in advocacy was filled by the Montego Bay Free Zone (MBFZ), which at the time supported about 80% of the BPO operators or call centers in Jamaica.
The MBFZ and industry leaders such as Lynda Langford and Angaleta Whyte, Patrick Casserly and Gloria Henry were the voice of the sector. They were soon joined by Conrad Robinson, who was assigned to the regional office of Jampro. Determined to support the growing private sector cluster, Gloria and Conrad attempted on a few occasions to set up an association that would serve as the voice of the sector. The first attempt was via the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce and a meeting has held in the MBFZ, hosted by Market Track, but the challenges at that point was logistics and cost. When that attempt proved futile, they were not daunted and went on to pursue another area via the Montego Bay Chamber and Jamaica Business Center (Jambiz). The operational structure and funding soon proved to be yet another hurdle that impeded the feasibility of this approach.
A presentation was made to Minister Tufton when he took office and appointed portfolio Minister of Jampro. The then Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce needed very little motivation to support the sector and with his blessings Jampro provided some seed funding and Yoni Epstein, committed itel BPO to providing secretariat hosting and operational support during the first few years.
With the legal framework developed, the Business Process Industry Association of Jamaica was officially registered in 2012 and formerly commissioned in January, 2013.
The BPIAJ now fully functional under the governance of a group of operators with commonly identified needs and objectives to advocate for better policies and interventions, got to work with efforts geared towards increasing the competitiveness of the ICT-BPO industry. The Association is supported by the Jamaican Government and allied industries such as education and training, telecommunications, construction/real estate, financial, amongst others. Its primary objective is to address the needs and interests of its members, specifically as they relate to the business process outsourcing sector in Jamaica to facilitate the continued growth and development of that industry.
Funding and institutional support was secured via two grants from Compete Caribbean. The first one was under the Presidency of Yoni Epstein and from that source the partial funding of the BPO incubator was launched at the MBFZ. The second funding was secured by President Gloria Henry, which helped with capacity building, institutional strengthening and value-added support for small cluster member firms.
The BPIAJ, having recognized the expansion of sector and the many emerging areas that are not necessarily fall within the definition of BPO took the decision to change its name in 2019. The new name, Global Services Association of Jamaica was now more representative of the members and the diversity of business activities.
The Association has had four persons serving in the role of President as follows:
The Secretariat for the BPIAJ is housed at the Montego Bay Free Zone and is staffed by three full time employees and supported by three part-time resources.
It is the goal of the GSAJ to support Jamaica’s transition into higher value services and continue to create an enabling environment for the GSS to strive.