JAMPRO is intensifying its efforts to attract ICT and business process outsourcing (BPO) investments out of India.

A JAMPRO-organised investment mission to Mumbai, India this week, will seek to target prospective investors and key opinion leaders at the highly influential NASSCOM Leadership Forum. The key objectives of the mission are to generate investment and outsourcing business leads, and to provide exposure for Jamaican BPO solutions providers.

The NASSCOM India Leadership Forum is one of the leading events on India's IT/BPO calendar. NASSCOM itself has over 1200 members, of which over 250 are global companies from the US, UK, EU, Japan and China.

Attending the forum are ICT Ambassador and Special Envoy Patrick Casserly and JAMPRO's manager in knowledge services, Vivion Scully.

outsourced to India

JAMPRO's strategy is to aggressively market Jamaica to companies outsourced to India and Indian BPO firms who are seeking a near-shore destination to the North American market.

"Our effort at NASSCOM is to increase our networking to firms outsourced to India and to top tier Indian BPO companies looking to expand globally, or which have expanded globally," said Scully. This will be helped by the direct participation of the ambassador, Casserly, in a round-table discussion on 'Doing Business in Emerging Economies'.

He said Jamaica is a key developing player in the BPO sector and has much to offer to the outsourcing world. The island's key value propositions to the global BPO market includes: it's advantageous near-shore location to the North American market, cultural compatibility with the United States, native English-speaking and highly educated labour force, highly competitive labour costs, stable political climate and Government-policy support for the sector.

This is JAMPRO's second year at the NASSCOM forum, and follow up on discussions will be pursued with three major Indian companies.

"JAMPRO is also looking to increase contact with the Indian outsourcing community so as to interest them in participating in our Jamaica Investment Forum scheduled for March in Montego Bay," added Scully.

Given the distance and time zone challenges of doing business in India, JAMPRO has also placed a tender to identify a lead in-market broker to maintain ongoing promotional efforts, identify and liaise with investment prospects, and increase Jamaica's business profile and visibility in the market.