ANOTHER significant stride towards the generation of more employment in Guyana was made yesterday, when Qualfon conducted the sod turning exercise for its new campus at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
The company said it expects to generate an estimated additional 6,000 jobs over a five-year period.

Delivering the feature address at the groundbreaking ceremony, President Donald Ramotar said that investment in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector is important since it has penetrated into every single section of the economy.
He acknowledged that such a large investment in this enterprise is also important, because it puts Guyana on the cutting edge of present technology, as well as in a position to fare well for the future development of the society.
Mr. Ramotar said ICT is also essential in broadening Guyana’s economy, so as to make it less dependent on only a few businesses.
“This has certainly made a major contribution in the direction of broadening the economy and that is why we have been trying our best to lay the foundation to make Guyana attractive for investment,” he said.
Noting that, in recent weeks, there has been a debate on the country’s education system, the Head of State said the best way to go is to educate people.

FAR WAY
He agreed that, while there is no doubt about room for improvement, it has also come a very far way.
Ramotar pointed out that the problems experienced in the local education sector are not unique to Guyana but the Government has been tackling those issues by investing in people.
In this regard, he mentioned that universal primary education has been achieved, while the country is also close to achieving universal secondary education and access to tertiary education has never been as wide as it is today.
Additionally, Ramotar said the Government’s One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project is also geared to ensure that people would not be disadvantaged because of their social or economic status.
“We fight for equal opportunity for our people; we think that it’s very important for them to also have access and for them to be able to handle the modern technology of today,” he said.
Ramotar said, as such, facilities like the new Qualfon campus offer great possibility for creating jobs and the primary fact that this centre will be employing some 6,000 persons is exciting and “extremely good news”.
Site Director of the Providence Qualfon Campus, Mr. Mark Boyer said the company already employs about 1,500 people in Guyana.
He said the new centre will generate 6,000 jobs but this cannot be done by Qualfon alone, rather with the support of the Government and other institutions and agencies.
Boyer posited that, just as it takes a village to raise a child; it takes a country to put 6,000 people to work.

NUMBER ONE
He disclosed that there are nine Qualfon centres worldwide, three in The Philippines, two in Columbia, one in Honduras, one in Guatemala, one in Belize and one in Guyana. Among these, he said, the Guyana centre is ranked at number one in virtually every category in the world.
Qualfon Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Mike Marrow said yesterday’s event was an exciting one in the history of the investor and should also be one for the citizens of Guyana.
He said the Providence Campus will be one of the largest call centres in the world.
According to him: “That says something about Guyana.”
He said that, while Qualfon operates in countries worldwide, out of all, Guyana is the ideal place to put one of the largest call centres.
“Qualfon is making this major investment in Guyana because this is the country that has so much to offer. Guyana provides the perfect location for Qualfon. We find an exceedingly high calibre workforce, a diverse and friendly culture, as well as a strong government leadership with unwavering dedication to economic growth,” Marrow remarked.
He said, over the next few years, the Providence Campus will become the largest business hub for Qualfon and its most significant investment, to date, anywhere in the world.
Marrow declared that the company’s financial investment is also a commitment to Guyana, its people and its economy.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
He explained that the campus will be a state-of-the-art complex, offering career opportunities and educational development for thousands of people in Guyana.
Additionally, the campus will, ultimately, offer an accredited university which would provide classes, career guidance, learning laboratories, arts and cultural programmes and a shared library system.
Marrow related that there will also be free medical services, vitamins, maternity care and milk subsidy programmes to benefit the children of its employees and Qualfon will sponsor caring schemes and volunteer opportunities, so that employees may help those in need and give back to the community.
The Qualfon Contact Centre Campus at Providence is being built on 10 acres of land and the first phase of construction will cost approximately US$4M and is targeted for completion between nine to 12 months and will be completed in 2014.
The basic facilities being constructed are a contact centre, an administrative building and a second operations centre. The complex will boast solar power panels and “green” building materials, an indoor/outdoor cafeteria, an inter-faith chapel, an on-site waste water treatment facility, back-up generators, a water pond and landscaping and parking facilities.