Aussie, Pinoy partnersopen KPO firm in Cebu

An Australian investor has tied up with Filipino counterparts with at least 12 years of experience in the outsourcing sector to  set up a knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) company in Cebu.

One GlobalSupport Business Solutions opened shop last Friday on the third floor of the Crown 7 IT Building in Mabolo, Cebu City employing a  staff of 20.

Jeff Hausler, founder and director of the company, and his partners Kino Sarabosing, Shawee Sinajon, Bennet Cabarion and PJ Celso said they planned to hire more than 100 personnel this year.

Hausler said that he was expecting the Philippine economy to continue to grow attracting more investors and businesses to the country.

More investments

“More businesses will be coming here and in the next 10 years, everything will change here in Cebu. Manila is already crowded and Cebu is the next place that investors will be looking at for investments,” Jeff Hausler, founder and director of One GlobalSupport Business Solutions, said.

Hausler, who is into the tourism and accommodations business in Australia, and came to the Philippines last year to look at prospects for investment in the tourism industry.

He instead found more potential in the outsourcing business.

100 seats

The firm’s office occupies a space of about 350 square meters, which is enough for 100 employee seats, according to Sarabosing, co- founder and managing director of the company.

“At present we have about 20 people but these are mostly the core and support staff. With the opening of the office, we will grow the numbers by April when our first account is expected to start operations,”

Sarabosing said.

The firm offers web-based solutions for graphic designs and partly teaching ESL or English as Second Language.

MARKETS

“For now we cater to the medium-sized companies in Australia and the US through our marketing partners in those countries,” Sarabosing said.

He said they were also talking with two companies in the energy business in Australia, that wanted them to handle their inbound customer service support.

The firm is also targeting the market in the United Kingdom, which according to Sarabosing would help make the business more sustainable.

According to Hausler, most Australian companies were recognizing the benefits of outsourcing some of their operations like savings on cost.

OUTSOURCE

“When they outsource, they can save so much because they will be only spending one-third of the cost should they have it in house and there’s so much talent here with most Filipinos speaking fluent English,” said Hausler.

With Cebu’s increased ranking as the eighth emerged outsourcing destination in the world, Sarabosing said marketing their services would be easier as companies around the world already knew Cebu and its strength as an outsourcing service provider in the world.