North African Company Joins Growing Global Digital Services Sector

Cluster Director for Intelcia Jamaica, Mireille Debruycker, speaks at a JIS ‘Think Tank’, on Friday, September 23.

Jamaica has added its first North African company to the growing Global Digital Services Sector, which currently has more than 70 firms.

The island is also the first Caribbean country to be selected to carry out business processing, information technology (IT), innovative consulting, and multichannel CX operations for global outsourcing giant, Intelcia, located in Morocco.

Intelcia is a North Africa-based company that has an international footprint spanning 17 countries, employing approximately 40,000 people globally of 30 nationalities and across 85 sites.

The company currently provides services to more than 220 clients from various industries, including telecommunication, banking and insurance, IT, retail, media, public sector, e-commerce and services, and utilities.

With estimated earnings of over US$1 billion per year and currently employing more than 55,000 individuals, Jamaica’s Global Digital Services Sector is a high-performing segment of Jamaica’s services industries.

During 2021 the sector saw expansion of existing outsourcing companies, entrance of new global brands as well as the much-anticipated progression towards higher-value outsourcing services due to ongoing initiatives by the Government, such as the Global Service Sector Project, which has enhanced the labour pool.

The inauguration of the Intelcia site in New Kingston on Thursday (September 22) further cemented Jamaica’s strength in attracting quality global outsourcing players, as the country expands it outsourcing partnership to the African Continent.

Cluster Director for Intelcia Jamaica, Mireille Debruycker, who spoke at a recent JIS ‘Think Tank’, noted that the organisation has an incredible growth pattern and has the potential to double its $740-million earnings within the next three years.

Ms. Debruycker informed that achieving growth for the company “will come through pretty aggressive expansion, and we want Jamaica to be a part of that,” adding that “it was commonsense to be here. It is a well-established market… and I think that plays a tremendous factor in why we are seeing these growths”.

The Cluster Director told JIS News that while there is a plan to grow the site from 608 employees to 750 by year end, greater focus is being placed on “signing the right people for the right positions”.

“This is all going to be about partnership, and we are aware that with the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), we will see that ongoing support, which will help the site to grow,” she said.

Ms. Debruycker further noted that the number of employees can easily be exceeded with the right strategy in bringing on new employees, and not just the contact centre agents.

“We are talking about support, training, human resources – anything that is needed to effectively and efficiently operate a world-class contact centre,” she said.

In response to this, Head of the Global Digital Services Unit at JAMPRO, Vivion Scully, assured that Jamaica, with the support of JAMPRO, is well positioned to ensure that Intelcia achieves great success while operating in the country.

He highlighted that “since the country began its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 20,000 positions have been added to the sector,” noting that “we are initiating numerous programmes to continue to drive the availability of talent and to prepare graduates out of high school and universities for the sector”.

“We have been growing at a clip of about 20 per cent annually, with numbers currently exceeding 55,000 employees within the sector,” Mr. Scully said.

“Our high-school enrolment is somewhere in the region of 250,000 students across all grades with about 50,000 graduating annually. This is complemented by approximately 15,000 graduates out of the universities as well. So, we are pretty certain that we can continue the growth that we have established for the sector, which is to achieve 75,000 persons by 2025,” he added.

Mr. Scully said that emphasis is being placed on higher value technology areas to support the growth of software development, data analysis, and software engineering disciplines.

He pointed out that one of the features that makes Jamaica attractive is its significant talent pool that is complemented by a pro-business government and a pro-business environment, “which means that there is a free movement of investment capital in and out for the investors”.

“With Intelcia being the country’s first Moroccan company, we are going the extra mile to ensure their comfort level in doing business in Jamaica and so we will continue to provide them the necessary support to continue their growth towards possibly doubling within the next few years,” Mr. Scully said.

Source: JIS 

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