Ghana Government Develops Data Centers To Support BPO's !

Accra, GNA- The communication minister Mr. Haruna Iddrisu on Tuesday said that, the government was working to establish a national data centre to suppport the development of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry.

The BPO industry is an information technology enabled service in which the clients from other parts of the world subcontract BPO services for which they have the advantage of low competitive edge over the local firms which have high competitive edge in the that area.

He added that the, government was working up to install the fibre optics across the country to support the activities of the BPO industry. This will help in the growth of the economy and make it the most preferred destination for business process outsourcing.

The minister confirmed this during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding( MOU) between the Ghana Telecom University College( GTUC) and the Rising Data Solutions( RDS), a Ghanaian multinational BPO service provider. This was done so to implement and design a BPO specific training course to be implemented by the GTUC.

As per the terms of the MOU, the RDS would enhance the communication and professional skills of the qualified GTUC students to work with them through training programmes by the GTUC faculty. This would be through staff interactions,exchange of experiences and best practices.

The speech by Mr. Iddrisu, was read on his behalf by Mr. Botingna Al-Hassan, a director at the ministry. In his speech he said that,BPO has become a fast developing industry driving the economies of many developed countries.

It has been estimates that BPO industry could provide jobs to about 37,000 youth in Ghana with an added value to the economy of the country by 750 million dollars.

Mr. Iddrisu said that, the country had requirement in the BPO industry and the college graduates need to be trained so that they could earn a decent living.

Therefore GTUC and RDS signed the MOU saying that, it would help the youth to equip with required skills to enter the industry.

Dr Osei Darkwa, President of the GTUC, said that the BPO industry is currently faced with shortage of skilled manpower, which is one of the factors for its slow growth.

Therefore to develop a talent pipeline BPO industry GTUC signed the MOU with RDS in the short and long term. This would ensure a continuous supply of trained manpower required for the industry.

Dr. Darkwa expressed the hope that, the collaboration with RDS would equip the students in the areas like communication skills,computer skills,telemarketing,listening skills, accent neutralisation and keyboard skills which are required to succeed in the industry.

Mr. A.J Whitman, Public Relations Manager of the RDS said, the signing of MOU was a landmark
in developing human resource and relationship for the growth of the BPO industry.

He also added that, RDS was committed towards creating more number of job opportunities and use its ability to drive the industry by using its strategic partnership that would allow development of skills based on knowledge sharing.