Outsource2Jamaica 2025 Conference
Keynote Address
By
Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Jamaica
at
Outsource2Jamaica 2025 Conference, Montego Bay
On
April 10, 2025
______________________________________________________________
Thank you to our host, Gloria, Chairman of Outsourced2Jamaica 2025. And yes, I did call her late one night, and she was a little bit groggy, probably frustrated, and she was actually very surprised to see that it was me calling her at that late hour. And by the response of the audience, I don’t need to reiterate, but Gloria has been a champion for the industry, and she worked tirelessly during the COVID period and lobbied very strongly for the industry, and she continues to do this. Please allow me to acknowledge your work.
And, of course, all the other directors of the Global Services Association of Jamaica.
Senator Allen, representing the leader of the Opposition
Senator, the Honourable Aubyn Hill, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce,
Member of Parliament and Minister of State, Homer Davis, who is a minister in my office representing the Western region.
Bishop, the Honourable Conrad Pitkin, Custos Rotulorum of St James,
Mr Wayne Sinclair, President, Global Services Association of Jamaica
Mrs. Shullette Cox, President of JAMPRO,
Members of the International Investor Community and delegates,
Executive representatives of public and private sector organizations in attendance,
Sponsors and exhibitors,
Members of the media.
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning.
It is my honour to join you today at the 2025 Outsource2Jamaica Conference. I extend a warm Jamaican welcome to all our local and international delegates, investors, analysts, partners, and innovators, those who continue to believe in Jamaica’s potential and who work each day to expand the frontiers of the global services sector.
Let me also express my appreciation to the Global Services Association of Jamaica for their tireless work in organizing this flagship event. It is not only the biennial conference that it is, but it is now the preeminent platform in the Caribbean for business and knowledge exchange in outsourcing and global services industry.
This year’s theme, ‘Driving Excellence, ‘ is both timely and visionary. It signals our intention not to merely keep pace with global trends but to lead, to innovate and to transform. And as a global economy is reshaped by artificial intelligence, automation, digital transformation, demographic shifts and tariffs, the question we must ask is not whether Jamaica can compete and survive in this very disruptive atmosphere, but the question is, how can Jamaica lead in this new disruptive environment?
Today, over 52,000 Jamaicans are employed in the global services sector, with operations stretching across the island. Our people provide voice and non-voice services across key industries: financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, logistics, retail, and many more. We have grown significantly from our initial BPO foundations, and we are now carving out a space in knowledge process outsourcing, in IT-enabled services and specialized digital service delivery.
Jamaica’s position as a near-shore destination is a strategic asset for us and for investors, but proximity alone is not our competitive edge. We have lauded this geographic gift from God for a very long time, but we recognize that it is the people, the other God-given gift, the other natural asset that will give us the competitive edge.
Our workforce is English-speaking, tech-savvy, and highly trainable and that is why the government of Jamaica has made a priority of workforce development and digital skills training to ensure that the future of work is not just something that we adapt to, but more so the future of work is something that we can have an influence in shaping by ensuring that our human resources are innovative and creative, and adding value to the knowledge pool.
In this regard, the work of our national training agency, the Heart Trust/ NSTA, the Global Services Skills Council, and our digital literacy and skills programmes have been instrumental in creating a steady pipeline of talent, not only for traditional outsourcing but for FinTech, cybersecurity, software engineering, and data analytics. We are investing heavily in skills development.
In 2023, we removed all tuition and administrative fees from our national training agency, so training is now free in Jamaica, and this is up to the associate degree level. In fact, we have gone even further, and we are now literally paying people to learn and get a skill. We now have programmes in place where, in addition to receiving training free of cost, participants earn a stipend which includes a training component. Jamaica is in the best position that we have ever been as a nation as it relates to employment.
For all practical purposes, at 3.5% unemployment, Jamaica is technically at full employment, but every business owner, every investor will tell you that the economy is in a good place to generate employment, but for us to grow, especially in a service-driven environment, we have to upskill. We have to improve the skills of the people currently employed, and then for those who are still unemployed or outside the labour force or frictionally or seasonally unemployed, we have to bring them into the labour force, but at a higher level of productivity.
And so we acknowledge the new dispensation in which the Jamaican economy is operating. We moved from having double-digit unemployment a decade ago to now very low single-digit unemployment, and the strategy of the government is now to pivot into ensuring that labour does not become a constraint for growth, and that takes a different set of policies. We are very much forward-leaning in providing support to businesses for the upskilling of their existing labour force and in providing really attractive incentives for persons who are not in the labour force to become a part of the labour force by acquiring skills. And there is a great push by some businesses to allow the structured- I hate to use the term importation of labour, but a structured programme in which local businesses can have access to a global labour pool.
This is something that is obviously very controversial, but as our economy grows and as it gets stronger and as the skills required to support the businesses become more complex and high tech, it may very well have to be a consideration, but as at this point the strategy and policy of the Jamaican government is to empower our local labour force.
At this point, it is to improve the productivity of the local Jamaican worker. At this point, it is to support our businesses to develop higher-paying jobs, jobs that are focused on higher-level services, and therefore to remove any underemployment that may exist in our economy. Eventually, like all developed countries, when your economy is strong and you require labour and skills that may not be available locally, then you participate in the global labour pool, but as of now, we still have a lot of work to do with our local labour. We have a lot of investments to make in our local people, and that is where the effort and focus of the government is.
We have said, however, that as the global arrangements change, we have a significant diaspora overseas, there are as many Jamaicans living overseas as living here, that if they want to come back home, if they choose to make Jamaica the place for their economic pursuits, then we encourage them, we embrace them and we want them to come back with the skills that they have developed elsewhere.
I want to be clear to the entire Jamaica about our strategy. Jamaica is in a good place as it relates to employment. The economy is doing well. It is creating employment for our people, but the level of employment would not be sufficient to generate the level of growth that we would want, and therefore, in addition to the fiscal support and stability that we give, we must now give even greater support to the development of our human resources to create a steady skill stream to support the development of businesses, particularly global services. And so I want to give the current investors and the investors who are here looking at this jurisdiction the assurance that in the government of Jamaica, you have a strong partner in ensuring that you have the labour force for your business to continue to grow from strength to strength.
Friends, we are now squarely in the fourth industrial revolution. This is an era defined by the convergence of physical, digital, and biological systems. It is a world of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, robotics, and the internet of things, and a cloud-based ecosystem. It is an era of great threats, but it is also an era of unbounded opportunity.
In Jamaica, our choice is clear: we will embrace the opportunities that is presented through digital transformation. Digital transformation is not only central to improving productivity and the ease of doing business, it is in itself the fastest growing industry globally. For Jamaica, it represents more than an economic opportunity. It is the foundation of a modern inclusive society and a key pillar for our growth agenda.
Our vision is to build a digital society, one where individuals and businesses can thrive in a tech-driven economy where innovation is democratized and where government services are seamless, efficient, and accessible to all. To that end, we are building out the three core enablers of a digital society: institution, infrastructure, and identity. To drive this transition, we have established a new information and communications technology authority, which will take effect at the start of the new fiscal year. This body will absorb and build on the work of E-GOV Jamaica Limited and will provide the unified digital backbone required to support the entire public sector.
We will have an ICT authority which will ensure that government agencies are equipped with the modern ICT services, tools, and support systems needed to deliver high-quality digital services to citizens. It represents the institutional modernization we need to support a truly digital economy. We also appointed a national AI task force to advise on the national strategy to enable Jamaica to benefit from the vast opportunities as well as to mitigate the risks presented by artificial intelligence. And no, artificial intelligence did not write my speech.
We are here in the process of ensuring that artificial intelligence is integrated and properly used in ethical ways to improve our productivity and efficiency of our labour force and our businesses. Now, just as roads and highways enable movement in the physical economy, digital highways are essential to the flow of information in the digital economy, and that is why we are aggressively expanding our national broadband network and our government infrastructure to ensure high-speed, reliable connectivity across the island.
To date, we have connected 702 schools, 145 ministries, departments, and agencies and 43 other government offices, and in the coming year, we will connect an additional 224 institutions, including more schools, courthouses, and rural service centers. This is not just about access; it is about inclusion, and we are ensuring that every Jamaican, regardless of where they live, can participate in the digital society.
Connectivity alone is not enough. We also need secure, reliable systems of identification and authentication, and that is why I’m proud to share that after more than 50 years of debate and delay, Jamaica has its first electronic national identification system and last year we started issuing our first national electronic identification cards, and this is a landmark achievement.
With this new digital ID, citizens will soon be able to verify their identity online, eliminating the need for cumbersome paperwork, long waits, and repetitive in-person visits. This opens the door to a wide range of E-government services, digital payments, secure transactions, and faster access to public support and entities.
Jamaica’s digital transformation is not happening in abstract; it is unfolding before our eyes, and at its heart is a simple, powerful idea that technology, when used well, can unlock opportunity, create prosperity, and secure the dignity of every citizen. We are building not just a smart economy but a smart country, one where infrastructure, institutions, and innovation work in harmony. One, where the digital economy fuels job creation, supports entrepreneurs and strengthens our ability to compete globally in sectors like the BPO, KPO, logistics, healthcare and education. We’re not preparing for the future; we are delivering it right now.
And within this digital revolution, our global services sector is positioned to become one of Jamaica’s most dynamic growth industries. We are no longer asking whether Jamaica can do the job. We’re demonstrating how we do it better, faster, and with the quality that the global market demands. We are putting ourselves to be the leader in technology in the Caribbean and the place of choice for our investors to make the decision to choose Jamaica.
In our drive to diversify Jamaica’s global services industry, one of the most exciting frontiers is logistics outsourcing. For decades, we have spoken about Jamaica’s potential to become the logistics hub of the Americas. Today, I can say with confidence we are no longer imagining the future. We are building it. Jamaica’s strategic location at the crossroads of North-South and East-West shipping lanes, paired with world-class port infrastructure, gives us a natural competitive edge. We’re leveraging this advantage not only to boost trade but to create new global services opportunities in supply chain management, logistics, BPO, inventory control and freight-forwarding services. Today, I want to demonstrate the tangible progress that we have made.
At the heart of our logistics vision is the Port of Kingston. The Port of Kingston is now globally ranked among the top 100 ports in the world. Since 2016, under a 30-year concession agreement with the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited and over 400 million US dollars of investment with advancedgeopositioning technology, new cranes and upgraded infrastructure, we have increased cargo volumes in our ports by over 50%.
We have increased employment by over 53%, and in 2025, an additional 50 million US dollars will be invested to further expand the equipment and capacity of the port. And beyond the port itself, we are laying the foundation for transformational growth through the Caymanas Special Economic Zone, a 700-acre site located near the Port of Kingston and key highways.
For those of you who would’ve attended this event previously, I’m sure you would’ve heard us talk about the Caymanas Special Economic Zone. In fact, this has been talked about now for three past administrations. For many years, we have talked about doing it. Well, as the builder, we’re going to do it, and I’m pleased to say that we have now completed the engineering designs for the special economic zone. The tender process for the first phase of the land preparation is finalized, and all required approvals are in place. Groundbreaking is scheduled for the first quarter of this fiscal year, so I would say that in another two months, we should be able to break ground on the site.
The site is being prepared to mitigate against climate change risks such as flooding and will be equipped with modern infrastructure utilities direct, and I want to emphasize this. We’re not just going to be building a special economic zone. We’re also going to create a direct link from the site to the port itself, so this is going to create within itself a true near port special economic zone. There is, in fact, a preexisting rail line which we intend to rehabilitate, so whatever activities, light manufacturing, assembly, whatever is done within this special economic zone, we’ll have direct access to the Port of Kingston. It will be probably the most sought-after near port service facility in the region when it is complete.
Now, this port expansion is a stepping stone towards logistic-led infrastructure and industrial development in the region. It is about positioning Jamaica as a regional hub for warehousing, distribution, e-commerce, e-commerce fulfillment, contract manufacturing and supply chain analytics and in this new world of, I want to describe it hopefully as free and fair trade. It is my hope that after the tariff wars have settled down, we can then have a world of both free and fair trade.
In that world of free and fair trade, we would want to position Jamaica as a strategic location to supply the global supply chain, and that’s where we are positioning ourselves. That’s the human resource we are creating, and that is the development of the natural geographic assets that we have to support this general thrust.
The government recognizes its role in creating an economic environment that is conducive and attractive to investment. I can say without fear of contradiction that Jamaica today has the strongest and most resilient economy since our independence, and indeed, probably in the region. Unemployment, as I said, is at a historic low of 3.5%. Annual inflation, again, is at a historic low of 4.4%, and that’s well within our target range. Our debt is 68.7% of GDP. Still high, not exactly where we want it, but in another two financial years, or maybe even less, we will attain our target of 60%, and this is by March 2028. And in fact, my own view is that our debt-to-GDP will go below 60% very quickly thereafter.
Our sovereign credit rating is BB- and this is only three notches away from being investment grade. You can imagine when we go below 60% what our investment ratings will look like. Our net international reserves are at a record high of $5.8 billion, and Jamaica is the only country in the Caribbean with no foreign exchange controls. Yes, and our foreign exchange rate is freely floating and fairly stable. Minister Hill has pointed out that the hallmark of the fiscal management and stability is that we have managed the affairs of the country, we have managed the tax dollars of the people of Jamaica, whilst delivering the services that they need without having to impose new taxes on them and we have done this now for 10 consecutive budgets.
In addition to a favourable macroeconomic environment, the government is taking deliberate steps to ensure that the enabling environment supports growth in the global services sector, and this includes the support for infrastructure development and workplace build out, strengthening of the education to employment pipeline and ensuring that there is alignment between training and the skills that the industry needs.
But we’re making further commitments. We’re making a commitment to ensuring that you have the technological support, the best internet, the best regulatory environment, and strong cybersecurity which is a critical issue, particularly in the global services industry, a strong data protection regime, which will support the development of the industry, and indeed the strategic and ethical deployment of artificial intelligence within the industry.
So, ladies and gentlemen, let me close by saying this: Jamaica is ready, and there has never been a better time to invest in Jamaica. We are ready to deliver excellence in global services. We are ready to host your investments. We are ready to provide world-class talent, advanced infrastructure, and you have a government that is responsive to your needs. But even more important, we are ready to lead not just as a large player, but we want to lead as the most nimble player, the most dynamic and the most committed to redefining what success looks like in the global services economy.
So, to our local operators, continue to build capacity, embrace innovation, and aim for global standards. To our investors and partners, Jamaica is open for your business and open for partnership. To our young people, this industry is yours. Seize the moment. Let us move forward together, driving excellence, transforming Jamaica, and leaving no one behind.
Thank you. And may this year’s conference be the most impactful yet. God bless you and remember, choose Jamaica.