DHL opens $30-m call centre in Jamaica

BY STEVEN JACKSON Business reporter jacksons@jamaicaobserver.com

Wednesday, January 14, 2015    

COURIER service DHL Jamaica has set up a $30-million call centre that employs 20 new staff.

The Caribbean Telesales Centre started operations on Monday with the remit of seeking new business from 26 countries in the Caribbean.

“It’s all about selling on the phone. So we do all the inbound and outbound [calls] where we are selling… DHL services,” stated Donovan James, general manager for Jamaica and commercial director for the Caribbean, yesterday.

James, along with four regional managers, answered Jamaica Observer queries at the DHL head office on Haining Road in New Kingston to mark the launch of the operation.

Prior to the start of the centre, agents in various territories hunted new business. The team believes that centralising agents in one location will garner better results.

“What we had before was people in different countries around the Caribbean. It didn’t lend itself to a real focus to sales, increasing revenue, productivity, and so forth,” James said.

The new staff expands the Jamaica employee complement to 93 in 2015. DHL started operations in Jamaica in 1988 with seven employees, according to a company release.

“A key market segment that we are going after is the small and medium enterprises (SME),” said James. “In fact, a lot of the effort for the centralised telecentre will be going after that market. We are aligning all our efforts around assisting SMEs.”

Reiner Wolfs, managing director, DHL Express, Caribbean region, said that Jamaica remains a profitable operation despite challenges across the region. DHL Caribbean aims to grow its business by double-digit levels this year, driven in part by the call centre. But the company declined to reveal dollar estimates.

“2014 was a challenging year, but we had double-digit growth. In some markets we grew 20 per cent. So we certainly expect an incremental growth from the telecentre,” said Wolfs. “Again, we expect double-digit growth over and above what we had last year for the teleservice channels as a direct result of this centralisation.”

Valerie Blandin, project manager for the call centre, indicated that DHL chose Jamaica over other territories based on its competitive advantage in call centre services.

“We had the option to set up in another country, but we chose Jamaica because of the skills of people, the good education, the potential of the country… and the work ethic,” she said yesterday.

DHL Jamaica remains the biggest Caribbean operation among 30 countries managed by DHL’s Caribbean operations, a release stated. DHL Jamaica accounts for 20 per cent of the Caribbean’s revenue, 26 per cent in terms of volume of shipment and 34 per cent of the kilos shipped to international destinations.

“DHL market share is approximately 49 per cent in Jamaica and across the region,” the release added.

As a region, documents account for nearly two-thirds of outbound packages while non-documents account for 96 per cent of inbound packages, DHL stated.

Effective January 2015, DHL increased rates by roughly 4.9 per cent in Jamaica as part of its annual adjustment across the globe.

DHL recently completed the installation of solar panels and energy-saving light bulbs in its office. The installation should cut its energy bill in half.

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DHL opens $30-m call centre in Jamaica

Canada body parts murder trial opens

29 September 2014 Last updated at 15:03 Police have said Magnotta filmed the murder of Jun Lin and posted it online The trial of a Canadian man accused of killing his lover and sending parts of his body in the post to political figures has begun in Montreal.

Luka Magnotta, 32, has pleaded not guilty to five charges related to the 2012 death of Jun Lin, a Chinese university student, including murder.

He faces a life prison sentence if convicted on all charges.

The trial start was delayed amid a crowded court calendar and difficulty selecting jurors.

Nearly 1,600 people were interviewed to fill a 14-person bilingual jury that includes two alternates.

Mr Magnotta’s lawyer, Luc Leclair, said he had sought jurors who were open-minded and willing to listen to the case, broadcaster CTV reported.

Canadian and European law enforcement hunted for Mr Magnotta across Europe

“He’s been waiting a long time,” Mr Leclair said. “There was a time that we never thought this day would come.”

Prospective jurors were asked during the panel selection whether they would be able to handle graphic and disturbing evidence.

Police began their investigation after finding a headless torso near Mr Magnotta’s Montreal flat in late May 2012.

Soon after, limbs were found in the post sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office and to the Liberal Party’s office.

Lin’s body parts were also later revealed to have been mailed to two British Columbia schools. His head was found in a Montreal park.

Investigators also found a video posted online thought to show Lin’s murder.

Mr Magnotta fled to Europe, prompting an international manhunt that ended when he was arrested in an internet cafe in Berlin.

He is charged with first-degree murder, committing an indignity to a body, publishing obscene material, mailing such material, and criminally harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of parliament.

Mr Magnotta’s lawyer, Luc Leclair, said his client had been waiting for the trial for a long time

The prosecution may ask the jury to find Mr Magnotta guilty of second-degree murder or manslaughter if they cannot prove Mr Magnotta intentionally killed Lin and planned the murder in advance.

The trial is expected to last four to six weeks. About 60 witnesses are expected to be called.

Lin, who was enrolled as a computer science and engineering student at Concordia University in Montreal, was from the city of Wuhan in China.

His father, Diran Lin, will attend the trial.

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Canada body parts murder trial opens

Barbados prime minister ‘opens door’ for Owen Arthur following resignation

Barbados prime minister, Freundel Stuart (left). former Barbados prime minister, Owen Arthur pictured right. (file photo)

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Sunday July 27, 2014, CMC - Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has expressed no surprise at former prime minister, Owen Arthur’s resignation, from the Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP), and BLP Leader Mia Mottley, thanked Arthur for his service.

Arthur, on Friday, handed in his letter of resignation with immediate effect to the Office of the Opposition BLP, ending 43 years of membership in which he led the party and country as prime minister for 14 years.

Owen Arthur, who led the party to defeat in the 2013 general election but retained his parliamentary seat in the constituency of St Peter, indicated that he will remain in parliament as an independent member until his term of office comes to an end in 2018.

Arthur was Prime Minister of Barbados from 1994 to 2008, making him the longest serving Barbadian Prime Minister to date. He was also Leader of the Opposition in Barbados from 2010 to 2013.

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Stuart, who heads the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), on Friday cited a historical example of a sitting BLP member of parliament – at the time representing what is now Arthur’s constituency of St Peter – resigning to cross the floor and join the then governing DLP, led by Errol Barrow.
Stuart suggested Arthur is free to follow the example of history.

“Soon or later members of parliament get to realise that the Barbados Labour Party is not the place to be…if Mr Arthur has now got to the stage of this realisation, I am glad for him…I’m glad that he has seen the light, the light was there ever since.”

Opposition Leader, Mia Mottley, said, “Owen Arthur served the Barbados Labour Party and Barbados at a critical time before the end of the last century. He helped to lay the foundation for the Barbados that is and the Barbados that we are struggling to preserve”.

She added, “These are extraordinary times, and extraordinary times require of us courage and extra ordinary action”.

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Barbados prime minister ‘opens door’ for Owen Arthur following resignation

St Kitts-Nevis opens Cuban embassy, calls for US to end trade embargo

Havana Cuba

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Friday July 4, 2014, CMC – St. kitts-Nevis has opened an embassy in Cuba and has called on the United States to end its decade old trade and economic embargo against the only Communist country in the Caribbean.

A government statement said that Foreign Affairs Minister Patrice Nisbett told delegates to the opening of the embassy that Basseterre would continue to support the annual United Nations General Assembly vote calling on Washington to remove the embargo placed on the island when Fidel Casyro assumed power 50 years ago.

“We continue to avail ourselves of every opportunity and in every forum to appeal to the United States of America to bring to an immediate end its unfair treatment of the Cuban people who continue to suffer unreasonably as a result of the decades old embargo. Cuba is our neighbour.

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“Cuba is our friend and we shall continue to exploit all possible means of speaking on their behalf in the international community on this issue,” said Nisbett.

The St. Kitts-Nevis government has noted that the majority of countries within this hemisphere has supported Cuba in its quest for “normal and constructive relations” with all nations around the world.

The United States and a handful of countries have consistently voted against ending the embargo.

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St Kitts-Nevis opens Cuban embassy, calls for US to end trade embargo

Samsung MoBay opens today

BY HORACE HINES Observer staff reporter

Wednesday, February 12, 2014    

MONTEGO BAY, St James — SAMSUNG Electronics is reinforcing its presence in Jamaica with the opening of a second Experience Store, this time at the Sagicor Montego Bay Shopping Centre in St James today.

This follows the success of the flagship location opened in Kingston last September.

“We are very excited about opening a second store here in Montego Bay. Jamaica has been so good to us that we are expanding our business in Jamaica,”Michelle Alvarez, project manager Samsung Experience, Samsung Electronics Latin America, Miami office told the Jamaica Observer during a telephone interview.

The Montego Bay store will feature the most popular in-demand and innovative Samsung mobile and consumer devices on the local market, including cameras.

Alvarez noted that the store will not only cater for locals but also tourists.

“We really want to expand into the Montego Bay area and try to reach the local market as well as to take advantage of the tourists that might go over there and enjoy Montego Bay,” Alvarez said.

The world’s first Samsung Experience Store opened in December 2012 in Paris; while the Montego Bay location, the region’s fifth Samsung Experience Store, is one of many executed as part of a 2013-2014 Caribbean expansion project.

Meanwhile, Jorge Lopez, product manager for the mobile division, Samsung Electronics Latin America, Miami office, said if the demand exists the company might open a third Experience Store in the island.

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Samsung MoBay opens today

Miss World opens in Indonesia amid Muslim protests

BALI, Indonesia (AP) — The 63rd edition of the Miss World pageant opened Sunday after protests by Muslim hard-liners confined the event to Indonesia’s predominantly Hindu resort island of Bali.

The opening ceremony, which was televised to 186 countries, featured Bali’s Kecak Dance and a parade of all 131 contestants.Following days of protests by Indonesian hard-line Muslim groups and the rejection of the contest by a leading clerics’ organisation, the government announced Saturday that it was moving the September 28 final round to Bali. It was initially set to be held in Sentul, on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta.Bali is the only Hindu-dominated province in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country.Controversy over the pageant has been mounting in Indonesia, which has a reputation as a tolerant, pluralist society that respects freedom of expression.The Indonesia Ulema Council, the country’s most influential clerics’ organisation, and the hard-line groups Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and Front for Islamic Defenders have urged the government to cancel the event. They have argued that the exposure of skin by women in a competition violates Muslim teachings, even after organisers agreed to cut the bikini competition and instead outfit contestants in more conservative sarongs.The chairwoman of the Miss World Organisation, Julia Morley, has promised that none of the contestants will wear a bikini. The pageant began in the 1950s, and the first winner was crowned in a two-piece bathing suit.“We only want to try to find the best way of working together,” Morley told a news conference Saturday in Bali.Miss Jamaica World 2013 Gina Hargitay is representing the island which has a rich tradition in the competition winning on three occasions. Jamaicans Carole Joan Crawford won in 1963, Cindy Breakspeare in 1975 and Lisa Hanna 1993.Most Muslims in Indonesia, a secular country of 240 million people, are moderate, but a small extremist fringe has become more vocal in recent years.Lady Gaga was forced to cancel her sold-out concert in Indonesia in May following threats by Islamic hard-liners who called her a “devil worshipper.” Jennifer Lopez toned down her sexy outfits and dance moves during a show in Jakarta last December.

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Cuba opens 1st solar farm

Business

Sunday, August 04, 2013

CANTARANA, Cuba — It’s like a vision of the space age, carved out of the jungle: Thousands of glassy panels surrounded by a lush canopy of green stretch as far as the eye can see, reflecting the few clouds that dot the sky on a scorching Caribbean morning.Cuba’s first solar farm opened this spring with little fanfare and no prior announcement. It boasts 14,000 photovoltaic panels which in a stroke more than doubled the country’s capacity to harvest energy from the sun.The project, one of seven such farms in the works, shows a possible road map to greater energy independence in cash-poor Cuba, where Communist leaders are being forced to consider renewables to help keep the lights on after four failed attempts to strike it rich with deep-water oil drilling and the death of petro-benefactor Hugo Chavez.“For us this is the future,” said Ovel Concepcion, a director with Hidroenergia, the state-run company tasked with building the solar park 190 miles (300 kilometres) east of Havana in the central province of Cienfuegos.Outside experts have chastised Cuba for missing an opportunity to develop alternative energy sources; just four per cent of its electricity comes from renewables. That lags behind not only standard-setter Germany (25 per cent) but also comparable, developing Caribbean nations such as the Dominican Republic (14 per cent).

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Cuba opens 1st solar farm

VIDEO: ATL OPENS PRE-OWNED DIVISION

News

Thursday, August 01, 2013

Adam Stewart (Photo 2), CEO of Sandals/ATL Group, speaking at the media launch of ATL Automotive Certified Pre-Owned Division at 149-167 Hagley Park Road in St Andrew yesterday. Ian Lyn will be general manager for that division. See full story tomorrow in Auto. (PHOTO: JOSEPH WELLINGTON)

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VIDEO: ATL OPENS PRE-OWNED DIVISION

JN General Insurance opens branch in MegaMart Kingston

Business

Sunday, June 30, 2013

JAMAICA National has added another outlet to its insurance arm, JN General Insurance Company (JNGI).The new “micro-branch” opened last week in the MegaMart shopping centre in Kingston. It is JNGI’s 16th outlet.Chris Hind, JNGI’s general manager, said the move represents two organisations coming together with an aim to serve customers better.“We share an ethos with MegaMart of putting our customers first and giving back to Jamaica,” Hind stated.“General insurance is about trust and peace of mind. You work hard to acquire your valuable assets and we think you deserve to have experts available to you, at your convenience, to assist you in arranging proper protection,” he contimued, noting that “By going to Megamart, we have stepped outside of our own network, for the first time, to find our customers at their location of choice.”Thousands of Jamaicans shop daily at MegaMart, one of Jamaica’s leading retail brands with shopping centres in Kingston, Portmore, Mandeville and Montego Bay.JNGI’s new outlet inside MegaMart is located in a kiosk. According to Hind, “It has an attractive physical location and offers good access to most residents in this area of St Andrew.”He added: “This branch has a staff of customer service representatives who interact freely with MegaMart shoppers. Advanced communications technology allows our staff to concentrate on customer needs, whilst normal branch back office work is carried out from JNGI’s main office on King Street in Kingston.”Gassan Azan, chairman and chief executive officer of MegaMart, said “the presence of JNGI providing general insurance services will certainly enrich the MegaMart shopping experience. Our customers have grown to appreciate the location of other service providers under our roof.”Azan pointed out that the collaboration with JNGI and its parent, Jamaica National Building Society, offers the potential for cooperation in finding new ways to keep customers satisfied.JN General Insurance (JNGI) general manager Chris Hind (left), with MegaMart chairman and CEO Gassan Azan at the launch of JNGI’s new outlet inside the MegaMart shopping centre in Kingston.

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JN General Insurance opens branch in MegaMart Kingston