Kirk LaughlinProbably the most visible executive promoting the Honduras BPO sector to the larger sourcing community, Ruben Sorto, Marketing and New Projects Director at Altia Business Park in San Pedro Sula is stepping down in a few weeks to become business development leader at a multinational corporation based in SPS.
Sorto has been a highly visible ambassador for the emerging Honduras sourcing community – meeting with hundreds of U.S. investors and business executives over the last few years; both in Honduras, in the United States and elsewhere in Latin America.
The state-of-the-art Altia Business Park is without a doubt the most promising symbol of Honduras becoming a viable destination for global services outsourcing. Many global call center giants, including Atento, Sykes and Sitel have all been recently exploring outsourcing options in Honduras.
“Honduras is ripe for investment in the BPO sector because it is an unexplored market, labor is still abundant, and therefore, wages are lower,” says Sorto. “Appetite for investment in Honduras in this sector will be determined by success stories from the first movers, from the companies that will take advantage of this unexplored market.”
Although Honduras does have some established call center operations, the presence of large multinational firms locating in the yet-to-be-opened Altia facility is seen by many as a important milestone for the country. Battling to rebound from a coup last year and dealing with various domestic challenges, question marks still surround the Honduras opportunity.
“Honduras needs to consolidate its’ arguments and put together our storyline as a nation that believes in democracy, in the rule of law, in developing human capital (which is the most important key success factor) and send the BPO market a true value proposition: competitive cost at the most attractive nearshore location,” said Sorto.
A replacement for Sorto has not been named – but when he or she is placed – we’ll be announcing in our pages of Nearshore Americas.
-Kirk Laughlin
Ruben Sorto is a wealth of information so whoever recruited him made a wise decision. Even with this change Altia is well positioned to move forward as their Class A facility speaks for itself.