ABIA working to develop Thriving Outsourcing Industry

Posted On: January 15, 2013

The Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority (ABIA) is working to develop a thriving outsourcing and off-shoring industry in Antigua and Barbuda.

Dubbed Outsource-Antigua the initiative will offer a wide range of technology-driven and cost-effective services which include call centre services, data entry services, engineering services, financial services, creative services, mobile app development, web analytics services, healthcare services, photo editing services, software development, research and analysis services among others.

It is expected that Antigua and Barbuda's outsourcing industry will create 500 good paying jobs in the first year and this should increase to 1200 jobs by the third year.

Outsourcing enables companies to leverage benefits ranging from low cost labour, improvement in quality of product, and service. When outsourcing occurs outside national boundaries and is managed by companies located in other countries, outsourcing takes the form of off-shoring.

With efficient labour in offshore boundaries, western countries will increasingly indulge in offshore outsourcing activities to keep their businesses profitable.

Foreign companies will use the products and services of small businesses in offshore countries to compensate for the lack of in-house employees. In fact, some argue that in the current economic and financial crisis, only outsourcing can save both the outsourcer and the outsourced party.

Government will allocate $250,000 for the ABIA to launch this programme in 2013. In the first instance, Outsource-Antigua will target unemployed youth and provide business opportunities for micro and small businesses.

The ABIA has already begun the process of creating a database of unemployed youth and small businesses that could benefit from the outsourcing and off-shoring industry.

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