Kingston, Jamaica – The Global Services Skills Council (GSSC), established to support Jamaica’s economic growth by curating a highly skilled talent pool in global outsourcing services, has appointed Egbert von Frankenberg, CEO and Founder of Knightfox App Design, as the new council chair. The GSSC has also set up two new committees with a strong focus on knowledge, innovation, and technology to help achieve its growth mandate.
The GSSC has already implemented an Industry Skills Upgrade Strategy, which focuses on identifying and addressing skills gaps to support Jamaica’s trajectory into higher value-added services. Some of the priority skills areas identified includes management & leadership, IT infrastructure (cybersecurity), critical & analytical thinking, and software development & integration. Implementation of these skills training are underway via the GSS Apprenticeship Programme, via partnerships with local institutions to offer courses to GSS employees, and facilitation of online training programmes offered by reputable institutions in the relevant areas. Additionally, the GSSC launched an Internship Programme in 2021, a win-win initiative that exposes potential employees who are completing their tertiary studies, to possible career pathways in the industry and furthermore, gives firms within the industry a close-up view of potential hires.
“I am deeply honoured to have been appointed as the Chairman of the GSSC. I am incredibly proud of our accomplishments over the past three years.” said Mr. von Frankenberg. “The GSSC is uniquely positioned to support Jamaica’s growth into higher value-added services thereby increasing the country’s market share in the KPO and ITO segments. I look forward to leveraging our strategic composition of representatives on the Council to ensure Jamaica has a pipeline of work-ready talent to scale and meet the growing demands of the GSS.”
The Council is further being reinforced with the addition of two new committees that will fulfill the Council’s mandate to identify and articulate the sector’s skills needs, engaging employers in skills development and influencing skill policy. This will allow for developing a more responsive provision to meet the sector’s needs to support growth and expansion. The Knowledge and Shared Services Committee will be chaired by Anand Biradar, Senior Vice President and Country Head of HGS Healthcare, while the Innovation and Technology Committee, will be chaired by Adrian Dunkley, President of the Jamaica Technology & Digital Alliance (JTDA). Other committee chairs are Roger Williams, Digital Global Services Coordinator, JAMPRO who leads the Policy and Strategy Committee, and Octavia McIntosh, Director of Talent Acquisition at Ibex, who steers the Skills and Apprenticeship Committee.
Upcoming programmes of the GSSC will be centred around empowering the industry’s human resource from being less focused on routine jobs and more on innovation and solutions-focused skills. These will support the Global Services Sector to actively move up the value chain into higher value segments.
About the GSS Project
The Global Services Sector (GSS) Project is a 5-year project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank that will provide Jamaicans with access to training and better jobs in the Global Services Sector, namely in Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). The Loan was signed on January 24, 2019, between the Government of Jamaica and the Inter-American Development Bank under the Executing Agency, the Jamaica Promotions Corporation. The GSS Project is supported by its beneficiary partners, JAMPRO, the Ministry of Education Youth and Information, the HEART/NSTA Trust and the Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ).
The Global Services Skills Council
The Global Services Skills Council (GSSC) is an industry-led body with the mandate to identify and articulate the sector’s skills needs, engaging employers in skills development and influencing skills policy. The GSSC helps to set standards and chart career pathways for the GSS, allowing for a more responsive provision of talent supply for meeting the needs of the sector and investors to support growth and expansion. The GSSC has a wide range of representation from the GSS (including BPO, KPO and ITO) firms, tertiary institutions, government bodies and other key industry stakeholders.