‘Midas BPO to recruit 150 more Lindeners, 100 already employed
–as Call Centre celebrates First Anniversary
As Government continues in its aggressive efforts to ensure that employment is increased throughout the country, Senior Finance Minister Dr. Ashni K. Singh today delivered the feature address during a ceremony in Linden, Region Ten to mark the first anniversary since the re-opening of the Call Centre building at Linden occupied by Midas Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Last October, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) and Midas BPO Inc. for the expansion of the BPO to the Mining Town. Midas BPO had initially commenced its operations in Georgetown.
Last year, during Midas BPO’s launch in Linden, a large number of young persons from the town had flocked the venue with applications in hand hoping to land a job at the Centre. Yesterday, a job fair commenced at the Centre for the recruitment of an additional 150 persons. The job-fair continued today during the Anniversary celebrations.
During today’s celebration, Dr. Singh said he was privileged to join Midas BPO on the important occasion of their 1st Anniversary and extended greetings on behalf of President Ali. The Minister said Government will continue to support the industry and will ensure that an environment conducive to employment in a number of sectors will be fostered, especially the BPO sector which employs large numbers of young people simultaneously while having the capacity to also employ other persons who can work from home as well, such as single mothers. In fact, the Finance Minister explained that Government will support any investor that wishes to invest and create employment in all of the ten Regions of Guyana which he noted will be supported by President Ali as part of his One Guyana vision for the country.
Dr. Singh lauded Mr. Sobers on the Call Centre’s employment of 70 persons currently as well as an additional 25 who have already been hired on the spot since Midas BPO’s job fair which commenced yesterday. By next year it is expected that 250 Lindeners will be employed at the Centre while Mr. Sobers also announced that Midas will be soon putting in place daycare facilities to accommodate young children of staffers.
“You now have 100 Linden families with an income. Where will they spend this income? Right here in Linden,” the Minister posited.
Minister Singh alluded to the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic’s (PPP/C’s) commitment to Information Communications Technology (ICT) and recalled that the focus on this started since under former President Jagdeo’s tenure and has been continuing under President Irfaan Ali’s stewardship of the country. Minister Singh then highlighted the several other steps being taken by the PPP/C Government to promote the development of the ICT sector in Guyana, including the liberalization of the telecommunications sector and investment in ICT education. He then urged Lindeners to ignore the naysayers in the opposition A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) who have been seemingly hoping that the Call-Centre would fail and criticizing its management.
“This Call Centre is being managed by a young Guyanese entrepreneur. You cannot say with one side of your mouth that you support young Guyanese entrepreneurs, we want young Guyanese business leaders to emerge, how much you love Guyanese entrepreneurs and on the other side of your mouth undermining and speaking disrespectfully of what this young Guyanese entrepreneur is doing in Guyana. And let me tell you this, there is no business that is not going to go through some periods of challenges,” Dr. Singh said as he reiterated that Government will encourage and support businesses as they navigate their challenges.
Midas BPO’s founder Malcolm Sobers over the years accumulated approximately 20 years of experience in the Call Centre industry both in Guyana and Belize. He was a young Guyanese who started out his career as an employee in a Call-Centre himself. While delivering remarks today during the anniversary celebration, Mr. Sobers said that his mission is to provide and give back to the Region and to be the largest Private Sector employer in Linden. He thanked the Government of Guyana for their continued support during his endeavors.
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) since its assumption to office in August 2020 has worked aggressively to promote the employment of persons. More than 1,200 jobs have been created in the BPO industry to date.