“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” This in one of the most famous quotes used when it comes to empowering others to become independent and self-sufficient.
The primary reason why I left my career at Wells Fargo and moved to the Philippines to set up a business was the opportunity I saw to be a once in a lifetime kind of thing. My goal to empower Filipinos with basic analytics and decision-making skills that they could use in careers in the BPO Industry plays to both my strengths and my passions.
I see the BPO Industry as the biggest pool to fish in for fresh graduates. They are young and healthy enough to survive the working at night lifestyle, they are fresh out of very structured work environments which most BPOs are and in general they have a least a basic level of English.
I see analytics and decision-making methodology as the pole they use to fish. By learning some basic terms, getting their hands dirty with some entry-level BI tools and by having an introduction to things like process improvement, they have head start over many other fresh grads and undergrads.
They can improve their fishing pole by mastering certain software and programming languages, but improving their English and by being mentored to look at a BPO job as the first step in a career not just a job they do for a while.
As time goes by, I hope more of my brethren in the BPO Industry took more time to think about how to teach their employees to fish and not just throw them on the phones and hope they sink or swim. Our recruitment and retention would be so much better if we were seen as a place to learn how to fish for a lifetime and not just feed their family for the day.
Decision-Making, Analytics & Intelligence > Philippines 