10-day Community-Based BPO Train-The- Trainer Workshop ends

A ten-day Community-Based Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) train-the-trainer workshop in Abiriw in the Akuapem North District of the Eastern Region, has ended with a call on participants not to desert their district, but to serve as catalysts and train the critical mass of human resources necessary to revolutionise activities in their areas.

The workshop was organised by Ghana Multimedia Incubator Centre (GMIC), which is an outfit under the Ministry of Communications, and established in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Addressing the workshop, the Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr. Gideon Quarcoo, intimated that there was no doubt that Ghana was in an era of the information age, where Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) and BPO provide a unique opportunity to re-energise collective efforts to accelerate the nation's socio economic growth.

That notwithstanding, he raised serious worry over the current state of the industry, saying it was saddled with a shortage of skilled manpower, which has been identified as one of the factors for its slow growth.

To this end, he called on the trained young men and women to spearhead the development of a pool of skilled personnel within the various districts across the country, and equipped in the varied areas of communication skills, computer skills, listening skills, accent neutralization, keyboard skills, internet search techniques E-mailing and professional ethics, which were required to succeed in the BPO industry.

He continued that in order to facilitate ICT for development, the Ministry of Communications, in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, with the support of the World Bank have earmarked the building of an ITC Park at the Tema Multipurpose Industrial Park Free Zone enclave.

The park, he explained, when constructed, would stimulate start-up and growth of technology- intensive, knowledge-based businesses in Ghana, as well as provide infrastructure and business support services designed to assist export-oriented small and medium information communications to maximise their potential growth.