Bacolod pushed to create more startups
An IT startup expert has noted that while Bacolod City has performed well in terms of business process outsourcing and information and communications technology (BPO-ICT), it has not produced many startup entrepreneurs. Arup Maity, president and CEO of Blast Asia, said Bacolod’s call center industry is flourishing, but the city has not produced companies that are locally grown. Maity added that software startups can change the landscape not only for BPO, but also in building small companies in third to fourth class cities. Maity was in Bacolod for a workshop sponsored by the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) and the Department of Trade and Industry. The said workshop generated a lot of ideas for the development of Bacolod’s BPO-ICT industry, said Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, BNEFIT president.