In the Path of Growth (Cebu as an Investment Destination)

(By ILVM)

“We must move Cebu from being good enough for Cebuanos to being good enough for the world.”

This is what Joel Mari Yu, Managing Director of Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC), shared during his Kapihan discussion on the topic entitled “In the Path of Growth (Cebu as an Investment Destination)” last August 8.

Yu also added that Cebu is a better investment destination because of the foreign direct investors. Based on the study conducted by the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP), results show that Cebu contributed an estimated revenue of US$.54B from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This is a 9% share to the US$6B earnings of the entire Philippines from the said industry last 2008.

Learn What's new in CEBU Now

As of October 2009, the ICT industry in Cebu has grown exponentially with the presence of 65 international companies- 27 are voice while 38 are non-voice. These are the likes of Aegis People Support, Bombardier, Convergys, e-Performax, Lexmark, Skykes, Qualfon and Wipro, to mention a few.

Currently, Cebu has two Information Technology (IT) parks and fifteen Information Technology (IT) buildings with a 75% occupancy rate. However, Yu noted that there is a “shortage of manpower for BPO companies” even with more than 10,800 graduates in Central Visayas for the last three years, with the figure according to the research made by CIPC. Yu continued that Cebu now has to “address issues of quality”.

Yu proceeded with his presentation on the status of other investments in Cebu. As for records from Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), investments in 2008 dropped to P.6B compared to P.9B in 2007. Board of Investments (BOI) revealed that investments in Cebu ballooned to P22B from P14B in 2007. Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) registered investments amounting P21B in 2008 with only P4B in 2007.