–employment of persons to begin from October

AS the government continues its efforts to ensure that the employment rate is increased across the country, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, has said that the new Midas Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Inc. at Kara Kara, Linden, will add to those efforts.

For the establishment of this call centre, the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Midas at the facility, on Friday.

The company will occupy the recently refurbished building which once housed the Toucan Call Centre. Ahead of this MoU, the facility was refurbished at a cost of $142 million.

Midas, headquartered locally at New Market Street, plans to create over 250 jobs through the expansion of its operations.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Midas, Malcolm Sobers, said that 50 to 75 persons will be recruited by October 1, while by year end, that number would increase to 150, then to 250 by June 2022.

He said that the company would commence the recruitment process for employees from within the town immediately after the signing ceremony.

In fact, it was observed that a large number of young persons had already gathered outside the building enthusiastically waiting with applications in hands.

The Guyanese businessman said he was also ecstatic that he was able to expand to Linden to assist in creating jobs, and expressed his intention to have his business expand to other regions.

Further, he conveyed his appreciation to Dr. Singh and Go-Invest’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Peter Ramsaroop, since those individuals were quick to respond to his business- expansion need and showed serious commitment to the BPO industry.

Sobers recalled that 17 years ago he attempted to commence his own operations in Guyana but was unsuccessful while four years ago, when he made another attempt, no one responded to his expressed interest. He concluded that it was a dream realised for him to see his business grow in the manner it has.

During his remarks prior to the signing, Minister Singh said that Sobers’ success story is one which could be emulated by each new employee who came to work at Midas.

He said that Sobers’ journey as a young call-centre agent who moved up to higher positions in the BPO industry within 20 years, to now being a proprietor, is a success story for many young persons who may be considering the industry as a serious one for career advancement.

Dr. Singh then alluded to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)’s commitment to Information Communications Technology (ICT) and recalled that the focus on this started since under former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s tenure.

“I had the privilege of being associated with the early efforts to bring the sector to Guyana. In those days, the President of Guyana was President Jagdeo, who saw the remarkable potential of technology-based industries to transform the economic landscape of Guyana and who saw the remarkable potential of technology-based solutions to creating jobs in Guyana, and President Jagdeo at the time very enthusiastically and aggressively promoted Information and Communications Technology,” the minister reminded.

He added: “Today, the fruits of those efforts are now being harvested under President Irfaan Ali’s tenure.”

ICT AN ENABLER FOR JOB-CREATION
Quoting from the PPP/C’s 2020 manifesto, Minister Singh said the event symbolised the government’s promise to Guyanese of using “ICT as an enabler for job-creation,” and he repeated the portion of the manifesto to attendees which states: “The ICT sector, if properly incentivised, can generate thousands of new jobs through co-investment, providing infrastructure support, state-sponsored training, and employment opportunities for the disabled.”

Minister Singh pointed to several other steps being taken by the PPP/C government to promote the development of the ICT sector in Guyana, including liberalisation of the telecommunications sector and investment in ICT education.

Also speaking at the event was PPP/C’s representative for Region 10, Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, who said that the government is serious about its commitment to the region and will continue to prove this through its efforts to catapult development in not only ICT and job-creation, but also in infrastructure, housing and social services.

He alluded to the works currently being done on the Linden-Mabura Road and housing for young professionals.
“This is not a stand-alone activity that we are celebrating. This is part of a suite of measures that are being made to bring real development to Linden and Region 10,” Minister Edghill reiterated.

It was only last month that Dr. Singh visited Midas’ headquarters, where he lauded the efforts of Sobers on pursuing his vision, which had materialised into the successful BPO facility that only commenced operations in August 2020, but has since employed 330 Guyanese.
The businessman had related that his business is heading towards expansion in Guyana. The event on Friday was proof that he means business.