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News and Views_
Saturday April 25, 2009
PM of Samoa says Faleomavaega out of touch with Fiji reality
By Tupuola Terry Tavita
news.newsroom@samoatelco.com
APIA, Samoa - Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi is disappointed with recent comments made by American Samoa congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin on the situation in Fiji.
Faleomavaega appears to have been won over by Fiji strongman Commodore Frank Bainimarama after meeting with the unelected Fiji Prime Minister in Suva last week.
Addressing a committee meeting, chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington DC on Tuesday, Faleomavaega accused Australia and New Zealand of "heavy handed tactics" in pushing democracy in Fiji.
Faleomavaega told the committee that Fiji was not ready for democracy and elections.
"Faleomavaega has been in the (U.S.) Congress for a long time and therefore is far removed from the reality of Pacific politics," says Prime Minister Tuilaepa.
"Perhaps he (Faleomavaega) has forgotten that Fiji has been independent since 1970 and its Legislature, Judiciary and the Executive branches of Government have been functioning until the Military started to meddle with the affairs of Government - a responsibility it was least capable of performing."
The leaders of the Forum (not just New Zealand and Australia ), the Prime Minister said, "have been unanimous in their condemnation of this military dictatorship in Fiji and now a mere congressman in Washington is barking up the wrong tree."
Tuilaepa said: �I would've thought Faleomavaega should comment on American Samoa - U.S relations he is far more familiar with. Not the complex issues in Fiji he does not understand."
"The good congressman completely ignores the fact that the regime in Fiji is a military dictatorship. And that Bainimarama's regime has been engaging in a ruthless crackdown on dissenting public opinion and complete suppression of the media. Is not freedom of speech, freedom of the media and engaging in free and fair elections hallmarks of American democracy?," asks Prime Minister Tuilaepa.
Faleomavaega told Congress, "For too too long, we've permitted Australia and New Zealand to take the lead even when Canberra and Auckland operate with such a heavy hand that they are counterproductive to our shared goals."
Prime Minister Tuilaepa believes Faleomavaega should be spending more time contributing to the Territory's constitutional commission review later this year, in which Governor Togiola Tulafono has taken the lead, instead of "meddling in matters that are beyond his comprehension."
"He should�ve had the courtesy to talk to his governor and myself to see what policy, ideas that we have on Fiji."
Prime Minister Tuilaepa attended the American Samoa Flag Day celebrations last weekend. Faleomavaega was also there.
"He (Faleomavaega) must always remember that he is American Samoa's representative to the U.S Congress and that his priority is voicing to Congress issues that affect his constituents in American Samoa. After all they're the ones who voted him to office."
Similar voting and elections that brought Faleomavaega to office time and time again, Tuilaepa added, have been systematically deprived by the military junta to the people of Fiji.
"It's therefore ironical, even hypocritical that he (Faleomavaega) wants to deny the people of Fiji the same rights."
(NOTE: Samoa News has reprinted this story with permission from Tupuola Terry Tavita, editor of the Samoa government newspaper Savali. The story is an original from the Savali newspaper.)
InfoTech presents call center details to large Chamber crowd Thursday February 19, 2009
By Fili Sagapolutele
fili@samoatelco.com
Information Technology (InfoTech) American Samoa managing director Tim Montgomery speaking yesterday to a Chamber of Commerce meeting about call centers. InfoTech has the exclusive contract with ASG to set up call centers in the territory.
While establishing a call center in American Samoa will be the only economic development project for the territory in many years, an industry expert cautions that unless it provides a friendly working environment it's bound to face a high turnover rate.
The expert, Tim Montgomery, the managing director of the Information Technology American Samoa (InfoTech) was speaking yesterday to a meeting of the local Chamber of Commerce, which attracted an unusually large crowd of about 50 business representatives.
InfoTech is the company with an exclusive agreement with ASG to set up call centers in American Samoa.
During his one-hour presentation, Montgomery made it clear - more than three times - InfoTech is an American Samoa company operating within the United States.
"I believe a call center is a tremendous opportunity for American Samoa," Montgomery told the gathering.
He said the biggest question raised since his arrival Sunday in the territory - and the reason he was called by the Chamber is: "what are call centers?"
Montgomery gave a lengthy definition of call centers, which he said "can encompass many, many things" such as customer service activities, processing contracts, processing e-mails, fax and customer service activities.
"What we want to do from day one, is build this business on leading edge technology," he said and noted InfoTech has a "long term" contract for "business process outsourcing (BPO)" on island.
(BPO is a form of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of a specific business function or process to a third party service provider.)
"One of the biggest industries in business process outsourcing is medical transcription - processing medical records," he explained. "Hundreds and thousands of people do that."
He also pointed out the huge number of people now employed by top BPO operations in the world. He said the fastest growing segment of business process outsourcing is call centers adding that about 3 million are employed in call centers in the U.S.
"It's a global industry...setting up all over the world," he said and noted American Samoa will be competing with other countries in this growing industry. "The only way we are going to be successful is - by providing quality service. We cannot compete in price."
He said more and more U.S. companies are looking at moving their customer support back to the U.S, adding the problem is because a company's call center in a foreign country is answered by a person with a foreign accent and the U.S. client does not want to speak with a person in India or other foreign countries.
That means the call is transferred back to the U.S. company's support center, he said.
"Companies are willing to pay a premium to talk to English speaking [persons]...in the U.S," he said. "The industry is paying attention because customers demand service. So as we are developing a model for American Samoa, we need to take advantage of the fact the only way that we are going to be successful is if we focus on quality."
Montgomery pointed out American Samoa cannot compete in price because of labor costs. For example, an agent in the Philippines is paid $1.50 per hour and in the Philippines there is a nearly "endless" labor market. He said supervisors and managers make about $3 per hour in the Philippines.
He also noted the biggest cost problem in the outsourcing business is turnover, and in the U.S. the call center industry turnover can be 20 to 40 percent while it�s about 150% in the Philippines.
"The reasons companies are willing to pay $26 an hour for U.S. support is so they can get quality service. In American Samoa, we have to build an operation that focuses on being able to take advantage of the fact that it's going to cost more to operate and get people in American Samoa to support the organization," he said. "As we move forward, American Samoa cannot be positioned with other countries."
Another advantage for American Samoa is that the data, which is gathered and stored in the company's facility in Arizona, never leaves the U.S. and there is a big need for call centers by various branches of the U.S. government.
According to managing director, the federal government, especially the Veterans Administration, is a target business for the call center in American Samoa. Why? Because America Samoa has a high per capita military enlistment rate, he said.
He also told the gathering about call center infrastructure costs and how InfoTech will built a state of the art call center, which he described as "follow me anywhere" technology.
As technology changes, so does response by call centers.
For example, in the use of text messaging, Montgomery said companies are now providing call center types of work where agents receive and reply to text messages. "Our technology will support all of this. 'Follow me anywhere' technology," he added.
How do BPOs, or call centers, make their money? "They pay by the call or they get paid by the minute" which is all worked out in a contract, he explained.
NEXT STEP
The next step now is for infoTech to identify an area to set up operations and build infrastructure. According to the company's plan the initial move is to set up a 30-50 seat service center.
Montgomery said during a six month period, they will know if the call center works in American Samoa, especially in the area of employee turnover. If all works well, additional infrastructure will be needed and more seats added by the year 2010.
"We have to develop an environment that has low turnover and that's the only way it's going to survive. We are going to build a business around happy employees," he said.
Montgomery notes the company will pay fair wages for good skilled workers and the company is looking at a partnership with the American Samoa Community College to provide specific skilled workers.
"If we really want to do this right, we have to build it the right way," he said. "We're going to build an infrastructure to connect American Samoa to the world."
New fish exporting company set to open in territory Thursday January 29, 2009
By Samoa News staff news.newsroom@samoatelco.com
Longline Partners, Inc. will produce 60-80 new jobs. Miami, Fl.-based fish exporter Sea Delight is on its second visit to the territory, during which it will finalize and proceed with plans to open up a fish fillet company in American Samoa, along with local and overseas partners, that will produce an estimated 60 to 80 jobs.
Sea Delight has partnered with local and overseas businesses to form Longline Partners, Inc., an American Samoan corporation, headed by president Carlos Sanchez, owner of local company Longline Services, Inc.
During this visit, the corporation is finalizing business plans and obtaining required permits with the government.
They have met with local government agencies including Department of Marine Wildlife and Resources Director Ufagafa Ray Tulafono. They have several meetings with Ufagafa and other government agencies scheduled for the remainder of their visit, and plan to meet with Gov. Togiola Tulafono today.
According to information provided to Samoa News by Longline Partners, Inc., Sea Delight is a company based in Miami that imports mahi mahi, yellowfin tuna, snapper, swordfish and red grouper.
The partners said: "We have a good team and our fish products will be produced in the highest quality. We are excited to be working with the community to develop one of American Samoa's valuable resources - fish."
Several brands will be developed by this new venture including the brand Samoa Delight.
Executives of the local corporation - from Miami, Canada and Costa Rica � Eugenio Sanchez and Leopold Landry of Sea Delight, and Gustavo Soto , who manages a fish processing plant in Costa Rica - are currently on-island.
Eugenio Sanchez, Sea Delight President, explains his company's food products are made with a "Tasteless Smoke" process that supplies many supermarkets in the U.S./Canada. According to the local corporation, Sea Delight's current customers demand more than 600,000 pounds of various types of fish per month.
Landry, from Canada is in charge of sales and marketing in the U.S. mainland for Sea Delight.
Soto, who is from Costa Rica, will manage and run the fish processing plant. Gustavo is presently the general manager of a larger plant which produces similar products in Costa Rica and has more than fourteen years in this specialized area, said Longline Partners, Inc.
Carlos Sanchez is in charge of fishing operations for the venture, including the revival of the "alia" fishing fleet.
Combined, the partners of this new company have many years of experience in different sectors of the fishing industry- from commercial fishing, to plant development, to processing and sales and marketing, says the corporation.
The new fish exporting facility looks to employ 60-80 local labor workers. Local fishing businesses will be subcontracted or hired to supply the fish. The project is not only for exporting fish, but also for catching fish in the territory, hence the revival of the "alia" fishing boat in the territory.
Longline Partners is looking at starting with ten alia fishing boats. They will start with one container of fish exported per week, estimated at 40,000 pounds which translates to 80,000 pounds of raw product. Their goal is to ship out eight containers of fish per month (two containers per week).
Spokesperson for Longline Partners, Carlos Sanchez told Samoa News they will invite all the "alia" fishing boat owners to participate in this new venture as this will provide a market for any fish that they catch.
"This has been a problem with the local fishing industry, where there is a tiny market for the local boats to sell their catch. The plan includes the usage of a mother vessel to provide ice and supplies to the alia to allow the alia to stay in the fishing grounds longer, to be more cost effective in their operations. Longline Partners will help out the fishermen with ice and other quality and fishing technique issues," Sanchez explained.
He said the project "will not only benefit the local fishermen but also many others, since it will provide many job opportunities for local people in the fish processing plant."
Longline Partners will handle, pack and export fish products, as well as look into producing the gas for the "tasteless smoke" process.
"Tasteless smoke process" is the use of natural wood smoke in the preservation of meats and seafood. Combined with an advanced filtration system, the smoke flavor is non-existent in the fish, the corporation said. Another feature in the tasteless factor is the fish are "quick frozen," to keep their fresh characteristics until thawed. This process will also allow Longline Partners to use ocean freight as the mode of exporting their product to the mainland U.S. and still maintain freshness.
The new business owners have met for three years planning this venture in the territory, they told Samoa News.
The project is being financed by the partners without any financial assistance from local government or institutions.
Eugenio Sanchez told Samoa News: "It is not always that you find experts in all the facets of a business, and in this instance, we have all of the ingredients to make this project work. We are very excited about this fact, and we are looking forward to working together to make this project a success."