Many seek to experience the stunning regions of the beautiful Caribbean islands, and its tourism is renowned around the world for its strength. However, as with many industries, it has been swiftly devastated in the wake of COVID-19. This would have spelled disaster for any other region so entirely dependent on tourism, but in the Caribbean it fueled the growth of a sector that was already on the rise.

The Caribbean’s business process outsourcing (BPO) sector grew at a rate of 17% on average, between 2010-2015, a report by the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies found. In addition to this, recent steps have been made to consolidate the BPO industry in this region.

What Is BPO?

The quintessential form of BPO that first comes to everyone’s minds is contact call centres, but the industry has developed and expanded quite a bit since this definition. The industry has moved away from referring exclusively to basic call centres and towards higher value services based on innovation.

This is particularly evident in the Caribbean, with its emergence of increasingly sophisticated outsourced services, such as Saint Lucia’s first AI Contact Centre, OJO Labs and Innovate LSO, a outsourcing provider of legal processes in Barbados.

Role in Caribbean BPO Expansion

On July 27th 2021, Itel announced its purchase of Emerge BPO. Itel is the largest customer experience firm in the Caribbean, one with an international reputation. Emerge BPO is a business operations outsourcer with a headquarters based in Guyana and a specialty in providing solutions for contact centers.

Through its deep roots in Latin America, investment bank Jahani and Associates, founded by Joshua Jahani, was connected with Emerge and acted as its exclusive financial advisor through the deal. The sale fit in line with itel’s business strategy of the expansion of their contact centre and work-from-home operations across the Caribbean. This new addition to Itel’s roster is a strategic sale that hopes to further grow Itel’s already largegeographic footprint, which includes locations in Latin America, the Caribbean and North America.

In advising Emerge to be acquired by itel, Jahani and Associates facilitated a major step towards the consolidation of the Caribbean BPO to take place. As the CEO of Emerge, Adrian Collins, has stated, their partnership with itel will “mark a fundamental shift in BPO services for the region making the Caribbean the premier nearshore outsourcing location for US-based companies”.

About Jahani and Associates

Jahani and Associates (J&A) is an investment bank that prioritises its focus on capital market transactions that extend across borders. J&A utilises its operations across the Middle East,Southeast Asia, and Latin America to provide North American companies with access to investment in lower-middle markets in these areas. In this way, they are able to provide their clients with an exceptional and unprecedented ingress to opportunities, both commercial and financial.

J&A’s team of experienced professionals provide tailored financial advice and solutions to their clients regarding a plethora of matters, including but not limited to: mergers and acquisitions, private placements, joint ventures, and global trade. Their team is able to provide independent and impartial advice to their clients on any issues they may have regarding M&As, spin-offs, activism and joint ventures in any sector around the globe.

Concluding Remarks

On balance, even though the tourism sector appears to be returning to its prior strength, the outlook is that the BPO sector will take over the region’s previously dominant sector. The steps made by companies such as Jahani andAssociates are guiding the transition towards the consolidation of the BPO industry in the Caribbean, which would only increase its strength.

The landmark acquisition of Emerge BPO by Itel, which resulted in making the Caribbean the “premier nearshore outsourcing location for US-based companies” according to the CEO of Emerge, is testament to the progress this region is making - and in large part thanks to the efforts of Jahani and Associates, led by Joshua Jahani.

Coronavirus