OnTime Technologies (Pvt.) Limited in Mahavilachchiya, a village located in the North Central Province, is Sri Lanka’s first recorded rural BPO. The company works as a service provider to InfoMate Private Limited (a subsidiary of John Keells Holdings PLC) and carries out transaction processing, as an extension of InfoMate’s role of captive finance and accounting service provider for the John Keells Group.

This ground-breaking project in the local BPO industry was initiated by John Keells Social Responsibility Foundation together with the Foundation for Advancing Rural Opportunity (FARO) in March 2007. The immediate objective of the project was to create sustainable employment for talented rural youth, enabling them to work from the familiar environment of their own village and thereby stem the need for urban migration with its resulting economic and social repercussions. The long-term vision of the initiative is to create BPO capacity for Sri Lanka’s future outsourcing growth.

Initial and ongoing training for OnTime staff is provided by InfoMate in Colombo and at Mahavilachchiya with ancillary support being provided by the Foundation. InfoMate has also developed a productivity-based model for the mutual benefit of the parties. An effective management system has been put in place towards assuring qualitative, quantitative and timely inputs. John Keells staff volunteers participate in visits and extend warm hospitality to On-Time employees when they visit Colombo.

A significant enhancement to the project was made upon OnTime obtaining a Partnership Assistance Programme (PAP) Grant from the World Bank. JKH was instrumental in initiating the process with PricewaterhouseCoopers (consultants for the grant dissemination). The grant amounting to a total of Rs.5 million is channelled through the ICT Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka, (LKR) and disbursements are released incrementally on the achievement of milestones. Pursuant to the grant, JKH was able to scale up the volume of work and double the number of persons benefited and the revenue of On-Time.

The progressive increase in the nature and volume of work outsourced – spanning multiple industries and companies – has resulted in additional employment and revenue generation for OnTime. The access to greater volumes and functions has also resulted in higher earnings for the shareholder-employees of OnTime whose average earnings increased by 20% in 2009/10 against those of 2008/09. This in turn had a positive impact on retention, with 2009/10 recording a significant increase in retention. Training for the new functions was carried out in the InfoMate premises in Colombo during which period accommodation and other related expenses of the trainees were borne by InfoMate.

This project has reached the standard of a sustainable business model: John Keells draws economic benefits through this outsourcing operation whilst creating sustainable employment opportunities, enhanced income sources and improved lifestyles for rural youth in their own village.

John Keells hopes to replicate this business model in other such rural villages in the years to come with plans already initiated in 2010 to commence a similar BPO operation in Seenigama in the Southern Province.