Nigeria to get N4.8bn from outsourcing investment

Nigeria is poised to attract a new investment worth $20 million (about N4.8 billion) into its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) or call centre market in the next two years. Indian outsourcing firm, ISON, would make the fresh investment as it unveiled its investment plan for the country over the 24 months. “Nigeria has a huge potential for growth and development, especially with the availability of strong, vibrant and talented workforce,” Global Chief Executive Officer of ISON BPO, Mr. Pravin Kumar, said. “The company has committed to setting up four stateof- the-art facilities in Ibadan, Abeokuta, Ilorin and Kano. It plans to employ about 4,000 staff in these call centres with an additional investment of $20 million this year. ISON BPO has excellent call centre facilities around the world, including one in Ibadan and plans to recreate the same standards everywhere in Nigeria.” ISON, a company that offers systems integration, managed services, BPO and strategic outsourcing solutions using end-to-end IT services, reinforced its presence in Nigeria with the announcement of three additional ISON BPO call centres as well as other service offerings – ISON Technologies and ISON Investments.

Founder and Chairman, ISON Group, which is registered in Africa with presence in 25 Sub-saharan African countries, Mr. Ramesh Awtaney, said that his company provides call centre outsourcing services with over 7,000 employees across 12 countries, in which 4,500 employees are in 10 countries in Sub-saharan Africa. With ISON BPO having operations in countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, Awtaney said that this year; the company plans to add nine centres with an additional 5,000 employees in this region. He further said that since its establishment in Nigeria, ISON has employed 1,300 people, of which 99 per cent are Nigerians, adding that its key clients in Nigeria include Airtel and AIICO Insurance.

He said: “ISON Technologies is equally a Pan African Outsourcing player, providing end-to-end IT services and solutions across Africa, Dubai and the Middle East. ISON Innovation and Investments (I3) focus on driving consumer Internet businesses in Africa. “Through this initiative, we embark on a new journey to help entrepreneurs from the Internet fraternity. Collectively, ISON Group has on ground presence in 25 African countries as well as the Middle East and ASEAN regions. “The ISON Group offers BPO services through ISON BPO. The robust BPO services infrastructure is built on global delivery framework to deliver voice, non-voice and other knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) services through local presence and on-shore/remote support, leading to superior customer experience, highly satisfied customers and growth in business.