Two new business processing outsourcing companies (BPOs) will open its doors further boosting the vibrant IT industry in the province.

Department of Trade and Industry Provincial Director Javier Fortunato said ePLDT Ventus and Smart Communications are the newest BPOs in town.

Major IT companies have set up operations in the province following DTI’s promotion of Negros Oriental as an IT designation in the country.

“Several hundred new jobs have been generated, small businesses are sprouting to cater to the needs of company employees, the industry has formed its very own industry association-the ICT Dgte-and we can say that the IT industry is vastly contributing to the development of our community.’ said fortunate in a statement.

Fortunato estimates that the BPOs and call centers in Dumaguete pump in more than P20 million a month to the Dumaguete economy through the salaries if its 2000 workers alone. “That figure is just based on the assumption that the entry level pay is P10,000 a month. And there’s the multiplier effect of three, meaning for every IT job, this will create three more indirect jobs,” Fortunato said.

Fred Dael, one of the prime movers in the development of IT industry in Dumaguete, even went on to say that the multiplier effect for IT jobs could be as much as 16. He said one advantage of call centers and other IT-based jobs is that it keeps the family together. “They also spend their money locally so the money does not go out of Dumaguete,” he said.

There already are at least nine BPOs or IT-based firms operating in Dumaguete City and Negros Oriental. These are the Teletech Holdings Corp., SPI Technologies, Student Universe, Tri Edge Resources, Inc., Entheos IT Corp., Nestwood Computer Development Services, IT Outlook, Bayantel Communications and Innove Communications.

Dean Sinco, proprietor of Entheos IT, which currently employs 30 workers doing animation, web design, computer programs and architecture outsourcing, said the prospects of expansion for this business is big. “If I am able to get other architects in Hawaii to do projects here, we can easily triple.”

Sinco, who works half of the year as an architect in Hawaii, said their only limitation, for the moment, is the composition of the talent pool. “Architecture takes a while for someone to be able to design and design in the way that is expected in the US. I didn’t get full reign of design until about six years of working. I was under the principal in the office at the start.”

Dael said that in addition to the fiber-optic network that goes all around Negros island, these IT-based firms exist in Dumaguete because the school infrastructure is in place. “People don’t want to come here. But Dumaguete, through its four universities, churns out its own work force. We don’t just have schools-we have quality schools. There is no other town our size with four universities,” he said, in reference to Dumaguete’s 120,000 population.

The City of Dumaguete been supportive of BPOs and other IT-based firms by giving a three-year tax incentives to the first-movers. The City Council, upon the instance of Councilor manuel Sagarbarria, who is also president of the Negros Oreintal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also passed a resolution acknowledging the efforts of Dael, Sinco, Fortunato, Bert Bravo and Veneeth Iyengar for the development of the IT industry in the City.