Is the business of business - business?
Jehan, CEO of Informate, would have to disagree.
Informate is a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) provider which pioneers unique industry systems and innovative models for BPO’s, under the John Keells group in Sri Lanka.
Today we I to Jehan about some of the incredible work that they have done.
One project Jehan holds particularly close to his heart, is the Rural BPO Project which involves taking BPO jobs to rural areas so that the youth do not have to migrate to urban areas for work.
Utilising SAP servers, the work is distributed through the internet to eliminate the need to migrate.The advent of the internet has levelled the playing field and has helped reimagine the concept of work as we know it - essentially demolishing the barriers of time and location.
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Informate even offered training to youth on SAP and accounting skills to ensure that their work meets the standards required.
But saying that they offered simple training sessions would be a huge understatement.
The mentoring process undertaken has been so effective and empowering that the youth in these remote villages have gone on to start a completely new business model where the business is owned by the employees themselves.
This new BPO, called Ontime has even intrigued the Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka prompting a visit by him.
Jehan says that the focus going forward is going to be on upskilling the youth to improve their communication and interpersonal skills so that they can take on wider roles.
The concept of Impact Sourcing, which involves considering more than just cost and quality while selecting a supplier, is of paramount importance in the same context.
Organizations of the 21st century should also consider the social benefits positive impacts and externalities created by the suppliers they select.
For example, companies in the UK could outsource their work to Sri Lanka, giving them a high quality service at low cost, while creating jobs and transforming lives in the rural areas of the country.
He shares with us the amazing impact the project has had by narrating an experience where he would visit the rural areas where the youth he found were working on SAP.
The benefits of running such programs are only magnified by the fact that 90% of employees are women, and their senior leadership positions are predominantly held by women.
Jehan concludes by saying that other countries can adopt this model to make a difference and that business leaders can positively impact their communities.
He urges the listeners to consider the local impact sourcing from Sri Lanka, which incidentally, is already one of the largest pools of accounting talents in the world.
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