MONTEGO BAY, St James — As the Montego Bay Free Zone (MBFZ) celebrates over 30 years, its facilitation of the development of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is being hailed as its greatest impact on the local economy over the period.

According to assistant vice-president and customer relations manager at MBFZ, Gloria Henry, on March 1, 1985, the Port Authority of Jamaica expanded its Free Zone development to Montego Bay.

Two years later, it gave birth to the BPO industry, which began to fill the space vacated by the 807 garment factories that left Jamaica’s shores.

Presently over 7,400 skilled and unskilled people are employed in the BPO sector from call-centres operating out of the MBFZ, and plans have been announced for further expansion of the industry in the resort city.

“This free zone comprises 6,200 square feet of space, 34 companies — 50 per cent of which are BPO operators,” said Henry.

“Although BPO accounts for 50 per cent of the customers, that sector accounts for 96 per cent of the employees and 98 per cent of the annual revenue,” she added during the inaugural MBFZ Open Day, which provided the opportunity for members of the public to learn more about the free zone.

Also speaking at the open day ceremony, which formed a part of the MBFZ 30th anniversary celebrations, President and CEO of the Jamaica Port Authority, Professor Gordon Shirley lauded Montego Bay businessman Tony Hart, among others, for the development of the Montego Bay Freeport, where the Free Zone is sited.

“There was a necklace of little islands that were out there. And Tony (Hart), Noel Hylton and others embarked on a process to fill that out. Through entrepreneurship and drive, they built out what is now known as the Freeport and they created the port of Montego Bay as a part of that process,” Shirley said.

Meanwhile, in retrospect, Hart listed a number of hurdles that had to be surpassed to eventually develop the parcel of land to establish the Montego Bay Freeport.

Raising of funds and numerous attempts to secure drawings and to gain approval from the then government for the development, ranked high among the early challenges, Hart recounted.

“I had challenges with the government because Mr [Alexander] Bustamante agreed to sign the agreement at the Cabinet meeting on the Monday and he had a stroke on the Saturday, and I spoke to the deputy who took over, Mr [Donald] Sangster who agreed that he would sign it. But he died of a stroke,” the veteran businessman reminisced, adding that the project was eventually approved by Prime Minister Hugh Shearer after further delays.

Hart also lauded the BPO sector for the positive impact that it is making on the economy.

“I am very happy that they (BPO) are doing so well. They are expanding by 3,000 or 4,000 every year and there are a lot of young entrepreneurs in it and I wish them very well. Its wonderful,” Hart told the Jamaica Observer.

In the meantime, Henry who was hailed by Shirley for her dynamic leadership role in the MBFZ, expressed her gratitude to the partners who have assisted in making the sector a success.

She said that the establishment of an incubator inside the free zone earlier this year is part of “a wider cluster competitiveness programme that is being implemented by the Business Process Industry of Jamaica (BPIAJ) in collaboration with Columbus Business Solutions and the Montego Bay Free Zone”.

Meanwhile, Grant Hume, vice-president Columbus Business Solutions and interim managing director of Columbus Communications, Jamaica, committed his company’s continued involvement in the BPO industry in the MBFZ.

“Our commitment to the economy of the free zone and the BPIAJ comes in three different areas: bringing more business into the zone, when the business is here, setting up those businesses so they can grow faster and helping to increase the number of jobs inside the sector. We are about 17,000 now, we want to grow as quickly as we can to 24,000. So those are the three things that we do,” Hume said.

The BPO sector also came in for high praises from state ministers Sharon Ffolkes Abrahams and Morais Guy; mayor of Montego Bay Glendon Harris, and President of the Business Process Industry Association (BPIAJ), Yoni Epstein.