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With a proven track record in foreign investment, near shore advantages for the North American market, a highly educated and English speaking workforce, competitive costs and quality infrastructure, Jamaica has positioned itself as an ideal location for Business Process outsourcing investments. Jamaica has the talent and capabilities to support investments in a wide range of areas including, but not limited to, voice-driven services, BPO for Health Care, Finance and Accounting, Insurance and Human Resources, Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), Software Development, Testing and Maintenance, and Legal Processing outsourcing (LPO).

A number of purpose built, state-of-the-art sites are available on the island to cater to these investments. Located in Montego Bay, the 48 acre Barnett Tech Park includes ten lots, as part of a large scale real estate development project. Located just 15 minutes from Sangster International Airport, the gated park will provide custom-built facilities for BPO operations and has all of the necessary infrastructure in place. The park is located near residential developments and will also include services such as banking/financial services, food service/restaurant, a supermarket and pharmacy. The park also contains a proposed facility for Western Campus of the prestigious University of the West Indies (UWI). US based, VistaPrint has already built a 100,000sq ft. facility in the park from which it conducts its Jamaican operations. Further units have been developed and space is currently available to lease, while other lots are available to purchase.

BIOPRIST Knowledge Parks has three ideal locations for BPO/ICT companies. The first location includes 50,000 Sq. Ft. of BPO space in Montego Bay, suitable for accommodating a workforce of up to 2,500 employees. The facility is in close proximity to other BPO operations and is four miles from Sangster International Airport. The second location is Sandy Bay, Hanover features 87,650 Sq. Ft. of BPO office space, which can accommodate up to 5,000 employees. It is located less than 16 miles from Sangster International Airport. The final location is Lucea, Hanover which features 60,308 Sq. Ft. of BPO office space for up to 2,500 employees. All three facilities are PCI Compliant, are fully secured with fencing, equipped with fibre optic networks and have standby generators.

Sector Strengths

Competitive Operating Costs

  • Wage costs in the Jamaica are highly competitive with call centre and BPO salaries 40-60% lower than corresponding salaries in North America: The salary of a customer service representative is approximately US$6,999 per annum while a software developer’s annual salary is around US$ With more than 14,000 employed in BPO and ICT in Jamaica, there is a large labour pool to support such developments.

Jamaica’s BPO Advantages 

  • Jamaica has had a strong track record in attracting BPO investments through consistently demonstrated the capacity to provide high quality service in the areas of customer care, finance and accounting, human resource outsourcing (HRO), receivables management, technical helpdesk support, outbound sales and lead generation. For this reason, global names such as Xerox, Teleperformance, Vistaprint, Hinduja Global Solutions and Sutherland Global Services (SGS) have all located in the country.
  • The country has all the advantages of a near shore location, with time difference varying from zero to three hours for North America and five to six hours for Europe.
  • Jamaica’s English-speaking 1.3 million strong labour force consists of talented, educated and trainable individuals who have a strong cultural affinity to the North American market.
  • The island also has state of the art communications infrastructure. There is a complete fibre ring around the island and multiple off-island sub-sea links provide built-in redundancy and constant connectivity to the world.
Investor Testimonials

Jamaica brings a large educated English-speaking workforce of high school and college graduates, cultural and physical proximity to the US and Europe and a government that is committed to ongoing investments in its educational, communications, transportation, and facilities infrastructure. These factors, among others, help ensure the ongoing success of a new site and future expansion.

Helena Lawson Brooks, senior vice-president in charge of new site selections for Convergys' customer management business
Incentives

There are a wide range of incentives available for BPO investments in Jamaica. The two principle incentives include:

  • Jamaica Export (Free Zone) Act: Activities of approved complexes and companies can be designated as a free zone that entitles these businesses to the exemption of Corporate Income Tax on profits for an indefinite period. To qualify, entities must export at least 85% of its production, which may be either goods or service related, outside of CARICOM countries. In meeting the criteria, the investor obtains exemptions on Corporate Income Taxes, Customs duties on equipment and Consumption taxes.
  • Group Head Quarters: This incentive benefits a company that undertakes group headquarters activities on behalf of the members of a group of companies. These activities may include supervision, general management and central treasury management. Eligibility is confirmed where the company demonstrates that thirty per cent (30%) of the group headquarter employees are Jamaican. This incentive provides exemption from PAYE tax of non-domiciled or expatriate personnel who perform group headquarter activities in Jamaica.
Agribusiness worker 
(annual labour cost  = unskilled production operative)
Electricity cost
The cost for electricity for industrial use per kWh
Water cost 
The cost for water for industrial use per cubic meter.
Gas cost 
The cost for gas for industrial use per cubic meter.
Telecom cost
The cost charged by a leading telecom operator for a 3 minute call to USA
Industrial space (Property) *
capital city – give name - The total cost of industrial space based on rental fees plus any taxes and/or service charge (per sq ft p.a.)
Office space (Property) * 
capital city – give name -The total cost of office space based on rental fees plus any taxes and/or service charge (per sq ft p.a.)
Social security contributions (employer) %
Statutory social security which companies must pay on top of salaries
Select fact file categories to add to export

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Indicators for Labour Costs

Data Point Value Units Year
Labour costs (minimum wage USD per month)1 219 US dollar per month 2015
Social security contributions (employer) %2 9 Percentage 2014
Customer Service Representative, annual labour cost3 6999 US dollar 2014
Software Programmer, annual labour cost3 23837 US dollar 2014

1 - World Bank Doing Business
2 - EY Worldwide Personal Tax Guide 2014/15
3 - fDi Intelligence from the Financial Times

Indicators for Utility Costs

Data Point Value Units Year
Electricity cost1 286.6 US dollar per Megawatt per hours 2015
Water cost - The cost for water for industrial use per cubic meter2 0.99 US$/m3 2014
Telecom cost - The cost charged by a leading telecom operator for a 1 minute call to USA3 0.01 USD per minute 2013

1 - Climatescope
2 - Corporacion del acueducto y Acantarillado de Santo Domingo
3 - International Telecommunication Union - ITU

Indicators for Property Costs

Data Point Value Units Year
Industrial space (Property)1 96.8 USD per year/m2 2014
Office space (Property)2 183 USD 2014
Grade A office building costs3 141 USD/sq.ft. 2014
Industrial space building costs4 111 USD/sq.ft. 2014

1 - Cushman and Wakefield
2 - Cushman and Wakefield
3 - RLB - Rider Levett Bucknall (Caribbean Report)
4 - RLB - Rider Levett Bucknall (Caribbean Report)

Indicators for Taxes

Data Point Value Units Year
Top personal tax rate (%)1 25 Percentage 2015

1 - The Heritage Foundation

Indicators for Exports

Data Point Value Units Year
Computer, communications and other services (% of commercial service exports)1 38.2 Percentage 2014
Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports)1 0.5 Percentage 2014

1 - World Development Indicators

Transport services (% of commercial service exports)1 7.8 Percentage 2014

Indicators for Size of Industry

Data Point Value Units Year
Number of companies in software & IT services1 66 Number of companies 2016
Number of companies in business services1 371 Number of companies 2016
Number of companies in communications1 28 Number of companies 2016
Number of companies in financial services1 198 Number of companies 2016
Number of BPO FDI projects (2006-15)2 18 FDI projects 2006-2015
Number of BPO FDI jobs (2006-15)2 11992 Jobs 2006-2015

1 - fDi Intelligence from the Financial Times
2 - fDi Markets

Indicators for ICT Infrastructure

Data Point Value Units Year
International internet bandwidth1 14210 Bits per Internet user 2014
Internet bandwidth2 32.3 kb/s per user 2015
Internet download speed (kb/s)3 5960.4 Kilobits per second 2014
Internet upload speed (kb/s)3 2707.2 Kilobits per second 2014
Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people)4 102.9 Subscriptions per 100 people 2014
Percentage of the population covered by mobile-cellular network2 95 Percentage 2015
Percentage of households with personal computer2 30.5 Percentage 2015
Secure internet servers4 57 Servers per 1 million people 2014

1 - World Development Indicators: The Little Data Book on Information and Communication Technology
2 - Global Information Technology Report, World Economic Forum
3 - fDi Intelligence from the Financial Times based on Ookla Net Index
4 - World Development Indicators

Percentage of individuals using the internet4 40.5 Subscriptions per 100 people 2014

18 Trafalgar Road,

Kingston 10,

Jamaica W.I.

Phone: 876-978-7755 ext 2225