All-female BPO's to be launched in Riyadh

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Saudi Aramco and GE Energy Infrastructure have announced the launch of the first all-female business process services centre (BPO) in Saudi Arabia's capital city of Riyadh.
The centre will be staffed by Saudi women with TCS and GE owning 76 per cent and 24 per cent equity in the new venture respectively, which initially will serve Saudi Aramco and GE as anchor clients.
The collaboration of the three companies underscores their strong commitment to support Saudi's localisation strategies to diversify the country's economy and enable the growth of a viable employment sector.
The new business process services centre will serve as a building block to localise the business process outsourcing industry in the Kingdom. The three partners will work together with an intention of scaling up the new venture to create up to 3,000 jobs for Saudi professional women.

GE will create up to 1,000 employment opportunities for this initiative, a statement said.
The centre brings a unique business model to Saudi and is set to become a rich training ground for building new capabilities, skills and careers for Saudi females. It will be employing skilled graduates in the areas of finance, accounting, human resources management and supply chain management services.

"The Tata Group has a long history of encouraging women to achieve their potential and contribute to the community and we are delighted to work with Saudi Aramco and GE to help provide careers for women in the Kingdom and enable them to contribute to its economic progress," said Cyrus Mistry, Chairman of Tata Group.

"Saudi Arabia is a focus market for the Tata Group where we have built strong partnerships and this ambitious initiative is an example of our commitment to this market," he added.
"This unique initiative will leverage a new talent pool in the Kingdom to meet the business needs of corporations in the region. It is an example of our long-term commitment to this market.
"By drawing on our proven global expertise in business process services, our ability to partner with corporations as well as develop talented professionals, we will help achieve the goals of this pioneering venture," said N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, Tata Consultancy Services.

Initially providing services to anchor clients Saudi Aramco and GE, the centre will eventually expand its customer base to other companies and institutions across the Kingdom.