Gov’t brings outsourcing prospects to the suburbs

CEBU, Philippines - At least 10 sub-urban areas in the Philippines will benefit from the new "Rural Impact Sourcing," currently promoted by the government to spread the economic gains from the outsourcing industry.

The Department of Science and Technology-Information Communication Technology Office  announced that the good economic contribution of the outsourcing industry will not only be enjoyed by the urban areas. This time, people from the outskirts, or rural areas will get economic benefits from outsourcing.

DOST-ICTO deputy executive director Monchito Ibrahim said that part of the ICTO's priority this year is to capacitate the rural area dwellers to take advantage of outsourcing, even while working from their homes.

He said the telecommunication networks' effort to cover the entire country with internet connectivity boosted this move, saying even those qualified rural dwellers who do not have internet connections at home can work from Internet Cafe's, as well as in community centers in their areas.

Ibrahim said in this program, the ICTO may coordinate with the Local Government Units  to provide a community center where people can take advantage of outsourcing jobs online.

This year, Ibrahim said the ICTO is looking at implementing the "rural impact outsourcing" to 10 suburban or rural communities across the country.

Ibrahim however, who has yet to divulge the identified areas, only said that this model is expected to empower suburban communities in terms of employment opportunities.

At present, the Business Process Outsourcing  or the Information Technology Communication-Business Process Management  industry is generating over 900 thousand direct workers, with revenue of $15.5 billion.

Only 28 percent of the 900 thousand workers are employed outside of Metro Manila, which means that opportunities in this sector is highly concentrated in urbanized areas.      Cebu for instance, which is considered as one of the most attractive ICT-BPM investment sites, only got a share of close to 153 direct employees from the sector.

The Philippine government is hitting to reach over a million direct employees of the outsourcing industry by the end of 2014 with estimated revenue of $17.5 billion.

In the next two years, the government is aiming at reaching at least $25 billion in revenue, and hit the 1.3 million direct employees.

The "Rural Impact Sourcing" will guide rural dwellers on how to maximize the online employment opportunities without having to leave their homes.  (FREEMAN)