build its operations center.
Though according to global management consultants AT Kearney Sierra Leone is not one of the best destinations for providing outsourcing activities, Norman said in an e-mail: "We strategically chose to develop this center in Freetown, Sierra Leone based on my experience there as the National Communications Consultant."
Norman, who formerly led Sierra Leone's national communications strategy while she was a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), recommended Sierra Leone as a prime location for the operations center.
The CEO of MyFaithDaily.com, Dwayne Rahman, decided to explore Norman's view. "After much thought, research and analysis, I found a huge opportunity for both MyFaithDaily.com and the nation of Sierra Leone to build a successful and sustainable business that will lead to the creation of an entire new economic sector in the nation," Rahman said in a release.
The center will provide the operational and content management support for ecclesiastical leader accounts on MyFaithDaily.com. The move is expected to generate job opportunities for Sierra Leoneans.
"I know first hand that there are many brilliant professionals that need gainful employment, and MyFaithDaily.com is in a position to help them with employment. In turn, MyFaithDaily.com has access to a large labor pool, and we really feel that this will help the country's economy grow exponentially," Norman added in her e-mail.
The site will launch on Sept. 15. MyFaithDaily.com will optimize the delivery of faith-centered content by converting it to a digital format. Account agents located in Sierra Leone will help ecclesiastical leaders manage and maintain content, and showcase services, video streams, television programs and other offerings a ministry may have.
Sierra Leone has made key improvements in regulatory reforms that make it easier to do business, especially in the area of starting a business, according to Doing Business 2009, the sixth in an annual series of reports published by IFC and the World Bank.
Based on her experience in Jordan, Norman thinks efforts can be made to achieve technology advances and create employment opportunities in Sierra Leone.
"I was instrumental in Jordan, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, in helping that country grow its economy to become a technology powerhouse in the Middle East. Within a short period of two years, we built a company called Oneworld Software Solutions that impacted the national GNP +3% in our second year in business," Norman said.
"We can recreate this type of success I firmly believe in Sierra Leone. Create a new economic sector there, Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs), create much needed jobs, and impact the nation positively," Norman added.
She also believes that companies leveraging the BPO market in Sierra Leone will benefit from a lower cost of doing business, and that in turn boosts their bottom lines. "It is a win/win for everyone," she said.
Though MyFaithDaily.com is not currently a BPO provider, its operations center intends on entering the BPO marketplace in the future.
A statement from the site said Sierra Leone is well-suited to build a strong service economy that would feature industries like BPO.