The Mauritian business process outsourcing (BPO) market has shown substantial
growth and has attracted a number of global BPO service providers. A strong
financial services sector, a good track record with tourism and hospitality and
a drive to improve ICT capabilities have provided the backbone for high-value
BPO services. The BPO market is projected to generate $1.12 billion in 2017.
According to Frost & Sullivan,
the Mauritian BPO market earned revenues of $199 million in 2009 and estimates
this to reach $966,313 million in 2015.
Starting a business takes approximately six days and the
acquisition of an occupation permit takes three working days,” said Birgitta
Cederstrom,’s ICT business unit leader Africa, Frost & Sullivan.
Furthermore, the board of investment, with the guidance
of the Minister of Finance, provides advice for investors and facilitates the
process of setting up a business in Mauritius. Investors receive help on
permits and licenses, site and location assistance and investment advice,”
Cederstrom added.
At present, voice and back office services are mature and well established, but
the recent trend has been towards lucrative, high-end knowledge process
outsourcing (KPO) services requiring judgment and analytical ability as well as
domain expertise.
Mauritius has strong competencies in financial, legal, IT and customer services
because of the high proportion of these skills in the market. Moreover,
the establishment of data centres and the construction of a green data centre
allowing substantial cost and energy savings, position Mauritius as a
competitive data centre hub.
The limited labour pool, however, inhibits the growth of BPO service providers,
resulting in low-scale BPO centres. In addition, the rapid influx of providers
operating in Mauritius has put a strain on available resources.
Mauritius has inherent skills difficulties because of its small population.
Outputs from schools and tertiary institutes remain too small to allow a large
influx of new BPO service providers, even as existing providers compete over
the limited available talent. This has put a strain on resources which will
affect the growth of the BPO market in Mauritius.
Efforts should be made to identify alternative sources that will supply the
core competencies and skills sets needed for BPOs in Mauritius. Furthermore,
there needs to be better absorption of existing graduates and school leavers.
The promotion of a 24/7 work culture through marketing and campaigns is a means
to ensure greater absorption of school leavers and graduates into the BPO
sector.
The streamlining of curriculums and training programmes
focused on the core competencies with regard to BPO services in Mauritius will
help aid the absorption of school leavers and graduates into the BPO sector as
this process can be more easily and effective managed with a smaller scope.
By Telecomlead.com Team
