Saturday, October 27, 2007

Sri Lankans use IT to beat poverty

Sri Lanka - In a north-central village, deep inside Sri Lanka's backwoods, a young man is glued to a computer screen, pushing a mouse and filling in figures.

Isuru Senevirathna is entering data at Sri Lanka's first business processing outsourcing (BPO) company set up in a village, and probably among the first in the world that is surrounded by tall trees, bird calls, paddy fields and streams.

"It's nice to be able to do a job like this," the 20-year-old youth,operations director of OnTime Pvt. Ltd, told Inter Press Service.

BPO is a growing IT business which Sri Lanka embraced with relish. Dozens of companies are now springing up in Colombo as many of the world's best Western corporations look for cost-effective ways to handle their back-office operations in countries where labor and communications are cheaper.

But OnTime's setting, next to a wildlife park, and subject to the occasional threat by Tamil Tiger guerrillas, makes it unique. Mahavilachchiya lies 250 kilometers north of Colombo and the fact that it is close to the ancient town of Anuradhapura is an added feature.More >>

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