The IBPO will offer several internationally recognized certification programs for empowering Sri Lankan youth with employability in global professions of Customer Interaction, Transaction Processing; Dataworks; Accounting services and Technical Support; thereby bridging the knowledge gap between internationally trained BPO operators and the pool of BPO resources available in Sri Lanka.
While Sri Lanka is not among the leading countries in business process outsourcing, it is fast being identified as a high potential market by several countries in the region. This increasing trend augurs well for the country’s objective of becoming a regional BPO hub and the availability of a hard and soft skill trained, internationally qualified workforce will significantly strengthen the country’s position to achieve this aim.
Speaking at the launch of this programme, the Minister of Youth Affairs and Skills Development, Hon. Dullas Alahapperuma said, “This NYC initiative in partnership with BCI will go a long way in helping us absorb and follow international skills and qualification standards, that the Sri Lankan BPO industry needs in order to become a destination of repute and trust. I believe our talented youth need to be supported with high-quality international training to enable them to become world class professionals. We are all aware of the potential of the BPO industry, and I fervently hope that the IBPO will soon be on its way to cultivating a worldclass BPO workforce. According to the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL), the BPO sector is Sri Lanka's fifth largest exporter. Looking at the prospects in the BPO sector, the Sri Lankan government together with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development is all set to provide an environment that is conducive for the development of the BPO Industry. I wish NYC and BCI all the best and hope we will soon be ready to take our BPO industry higher.”
In his address Mr. Nalinda Ilangakoon, the Chairman/Director of the NYC said, “The National Youth Corps is committed to productively shape the lives of young people for the benefit of the country. The establishment of the IBPO is yet another initiative geared towards meeting this objective and we are confident that in time Sri Lanka can be transformed into a regional BPO hub on par with any other country in the region.”
Speaking on the role played by BCI in establishing this training institute Mr. Sanjeeva Shukla, the Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board of BCI said, “BCI’s standards, certifications and solutions are changing, improving and enriching the way nations breed their BPO workforce.BCI is committed to helping NYC expand IBPO’s footprint across the island and meet the rising demand of trained and certified BPO professionals in its growing outsourcing industry.”
IBPO is an initiative of the National Youth Corps, funded by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development, Government of Sri Lanka. Set up under license from the world leader BCI, IBPO is building on the state-of-the-art HCMS21 and BGSQA12 international standards in professional competence and capacity building of BCI. The Institute will have its own fleet of BCI certified Master Trainers developed through BCI’s MTB programs. All learning and instruction content will be sourced from BCI under special subsidies approved by the BCI Board in United States. The IBPO is also expected to get several other scholarship-schemes from BCI to help NYC rapidly promote awareness and excitement about BPO careers.The NYC also just successfully concluded Sri Lanka’s first ever international BPO Master Trainer Breeder program conducted by international experts from BCI.
The vision of the IBPO is to start off with certification programs for entry-level careers (Customer Interaction Professionals (CCIP®), Certified Back office Services Associate (CBSA®), Certified Finance Process Associate (CFPA®) and Certified Technical Support Associate (CTSA®), and then follow it up with programs for team-leads and managers. In the next three years, the IBPO expects to reach a level where it can offer international BPO standards for team leaders and managers. Most senior executives at NYC and BCI confidently observe that the IBPO will breed workforce and generate employability for many other industries apart from BPO.
The IBPO programme focuses on building employability in functions like back office operations, customer care, finance and technical support in industries such as hotels, travel, telecom, BPO, call centres and financial services.
Caption : Minister of Youth Affairs and Skills Development, Hon. Dullas Alahapperuma launching the website of the IBPO along with Nalinda Ilangakoon, the Chairman/Director of the NYC, in the presence of (from left) Sanjeeva Shukla, the Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board of BCI and B. Wijerathne, Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Skill Development.