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In the four decades as a mentor, guide, and ‘ginnygog’ encourager/leader of A-QuEST, I have had the awesome privilege of nurturing some of the brightest young minds in Jamaica, CARICOM, and occasionally even Brazil, Haiti, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates.
This journey has given me both immense pride and profound heartbreak – the former, when students ascended to the heights of innovation and excellence; the latter, when their potential is siphoned into the churning machinery of business process outsourcing (BPO).
This essay is a deeply personal critique of how the rise of BPO activities in Jamaica and much of the ‘Third World’ has perpetuated underdevelopment. It is not merely a criticism of an industry but a revision of what could have been if Gavin Jones of St Thomas, Sharma Taylor of St Andrew, Avinash Ketwaroo of Portland and Guyana, Chelsea Dixon of Manchester, Rana Smalling of St Elizabeth, Stefan Richards of Kingston, and Fitzroy Wickham of St Ann had not been empowered to be the trailblazers their education prepared them to be.
ALLURING TRAP OF BPO
BPOs are often heralded as a saviour for developing economies. With their promises of job creation, foreign investment, and economic stability, they cast a seductive shadow over nations struggling with unemployment and sluggish growth. Yet, beneath this shiny veneer lies a troubling truth: BPOs in Jamaica often reduce their employees to mere cogs in a global machine, performing tasks that require little intellectual engagement or creativity.
Imagine Taylor, a corporate lawyer and award-winning author with a passion for corporate governance, reciting prewritten scripts to irate callers thousands of miles away. Picture Ketwaroo, a medical-imaging prodigy, spending his days troubleshooting basic internet issues instead of creating cutting-edge medical procedures at Yale and the Veteran’s Administration. Consider Jones, a computational chemist and lead scientist in quantum computing for IBM, tethered to a headset and reading rote answers off a screen. These roles are the antithesis of the promise their education held when they were 18 or 22 years old.
This is not to diminish the dignity of honest work but to question why so many of our best and brightest are funnelled into jobs that so woefully underutilise their potential. The same governments that invest millions in education champion BPO as a developmental panacea, blind to the irony of producing graduates for roles that rarely require a secondary education.
MIRAGE OF DEVELOPMENT
The BPO industry’s proponents point to its contribution to GDP and job creation. These are, admittedly, not insignificant. Jamaica’s BPO sector alone contributes an estimated six per cent to GDP annually. But, at what cost? These metrics offer a shallow understanding of development, masking the perpetuation of dependency and the stifling of innovation.
BPO thrives on the availability of cheap, English-speaking labour – a resource Jamaica and its CARICOM neighbours have in abundance. But this reliance on low-wage labour creates a vicious cycle. Governments, eager to attract outsourcing contracts, offer tax incentives and subsidies, draining public coffers while encouraging a race to the bottom. This approach commodifies labour, reduces wages across the board, and erodes the dignity of work. Worse, it diverts attention and resources from sectors that could drive genuine, sustainable development.
COST OF MISALLOCATED TALENT
One of the most tragic consequences of the BPO boom is the misallocation of human capital. Occasionally, A-QuEST students, who could have been innovators, entrepreneurs, or leaders in STEM fields, find themselves trapped in roles that foil their ambition and creativity. This systemic squandering of talent is a national calamity for countries like Jamaica that desperately need innovation to escape economic stagnation.
For every Jones troubleshooting internet issues, there is a product or invention that will never see the light of day. For every Taylor reading scripts to angry callers, there is a good corporate governance opinion left unwritten. For every Ketwaroo tethered to a headset, there is a medical-imaging solution that will never revolutionise a treatment protocol. The opportunity cost is incalculable.
SIREN SONG OF STABILITY
The appeal of BPO jobs lies in their perceived stability. For many young people, these roles offer a steady pay cheque in an uncertain economic landscape. But this stability comes at the cost of ambition and long-term growth. BPO positions, by their nature, are dead-end jobs. They offer little room for advancement or skill development, locking workers into cycles of mediocrity.
Further, the industry’s reliance on foreign markets creates a precarious dependency. When global demand shifts or automation threatens to replace human labour, these jobs will disappear as quickly as they appeared. The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) is already casting a long shadow over the BPO sector, with automation poised to replace many of the repetitive tasks that characterise these roles.
BREAKING CYCLE OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT
The solution to this conundrum lies in reimagining our approach to development. If Jamaica and other developing nations are to escape the BPO trap, we must prioritise education, innovation, and entrepreneurship over outsourcing. This requires a fundamental shift in both policy and mindset.
-- Invest in education for innovation: Our education systems must align with national development priorities. This means emphasising STEM, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills while fostering a culture of creativity and ambition. Instead of preparing students for BPO roles, we should equip them to lead in fields like renewable energy, software development, and advanced manufacturing.
-- Create ecosystems for entrepreneurship: Governments must invest in creating environments that support start-ups and small businesses. This includes funding research and development, providing access to capital, and fostering partnerships between academia and industry.
– Rethink foreign investment: Rather than courting BPO firms with generous incentives, we should seek partnerships that build local capacity and create high-value jobs.
– Diversify the economy: Jamaica’s overreliance on tourism and BPO leaves it vulnerable to external shocks. By diversifying into industries like renewable energy, agribusiness, and high-tech manufacturing, we can create a more sustainable economic foundation.
MORAL IMPERATIVE
This is not just an economic argument; it is a moral one. It is unjust to channel the aspirations of an entire generation into roles that diminish their potential. Young people like Gavin, Sharma, and Avinash deserve more than a future defined by mediocrity. They deserve the opportunity to innovate, to lead, and to build a better world.
As educators, policymakers, and citizens, we have a responsibility to challenge the status quo. We must question the narratives that frame BPO as a developmental success story and advocate for alternatives that empower our people and advance our nations. The true measure of progress is not the number of call centres we host but the extent to which we enable our citizens to achieve their full potential.
The rise of the BPO sector in Jamaica and other developing nations represents a profound missed opportunity. While these jobs provide short-term economic relief, they do so at an unacceptable cost: the underutilisation of talent, the perpetuation of dependency, and the erosion of ambition. By reorienting our policies and priorities, we can chart a path towards genuine progress – one that values innovation over outsourcing and dignity over exploitation.
As the leader of A-QuEST, I have witnessed firsthand the untapped potential of our brightest minds. Let this critique be a call to action. Let us refuse to settle for a future defined by mediocrity and instead strive for one characterised by excellence, resilience, and self-determination. Let us honour the promise of Gavin, Sharma, and Avinash by building a world where their potential is realised, not wasted.
Dennis Minott, PhD, is the CEO of A-QuEST-FAIR. He is a multilingual green resources specialist, a research physicist, and a modest mathematician who worked in the oil and energy sector. Send feedback to a_quest57@yahoo.com or columns@gleanerjm.com
by Dennis A. Minott, PhD.
Published: January 12, 2025
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