Guyana has remarkable potential in the call centre industry

– Finance Minister

Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Hon. Dr. Ashni Singh, says Guyana has remarkable potential in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)/call centre industry.

Dr. Singh shared this sentiment during a visit to the Qualfon Call Centre at Providence on Tuesday. He was accompanied by Chief Executive Officer at the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest), Dr. Peter Ramsaroop.

The Minister said the visit is in keeping with the PPP/C Government’s vision of diversifying the economy.

“President Irfaan Ali and his entire Government have been at pains to emphasise how important we consider the objective of diversifying the Guyanese economy and ensuring that we have a well-diversified and dynamic economic base.

For this reason, you would have heard us repeatedly say that not only do we see growth in the Guyanese economy being driven by oil and gas going forward, but we are putting an extreme high emphasis on the non-oil economy.”

Minister Singh said his visit to Qualfon reflects the Government’s conviction that the BPO sector has the potential to create jobs, generate income, spur economic activity and improve lives.

Dr. Singh recalled that Qualfon was established in Guyana in 2005. Even with just 25 employees at the time, the Finance Minister said he had recognised the potential for the sector and the company. In under 10 years, he noted Qualfon was able to expand its workforce to 2,800—which collapsed to 1,800 under the former Government.

“We would like to see companies like Qualfon grow… attracting more clients and recruiting more agents. We would like to see other companies like Qualfon establish and grow and recruit people as well, and that is an engagement that we intend to have.” The Senior Finance Minister plans on meeting with other companies in the BPO sector to foster conversations on how to strengthen them.