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By Kent Larsen
Ghanian President Mistakenly Gives LDS Church Credit for Jobs
ACCRA, GHANA -- Ghana's President John Kufuor visited the offices of
Affiliated Computer Services -- Business Process Solutions' venture
in Accra, Ghana last week, and gave The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints credit for bringing the company to Ghana, where it
employs 1,000 people. But a US-based executive of the firm, who is an
LDS Church member, told Mormon News that the Ghanian President was
mistaken, and overstated the Church's role.
The venture is an offshore data-keying operation of Affiliated
Computer Services' Business Process Solutions division which
processes medical claim forms for the giant insurer Aetna. The
venture was started in July 2000, and has since grown from about 288
employees as recently as this past February to 1,000 employees now,
according to reports in the Accra Mail. Employees enter data into a
computer system from scanned copies of claim forms that have been
transmitted electronically to Ghana from the US. The data they enter
is then transmitted back to the US.
Employees of the venture make about $100 to $200 a month, three times
the average local income. News reports in the Accra Mail say that
ACS-BPS plans to increase the size of the operation to 4,000
employees in coming years.
President Kufuor was very impressed with the operation and told the
Mail that the LDS Church had facilitated its location in Ghana. He
added that any church which could bring the kind of employment
generating activity like what he saw at ACS/BPS must be taken serious.
But Tom Blodgett of ACS's Business Process Solutions division told
Mormon News that the Ghanian President was mistaken. Blodgett says
that ACS-BPS did an extensive analysis of countries around the world
in which the venture could be placed and said that the LDS Church was
not involved in that process.
However, Blodgett, who is an LDS Church member, did say that the
venture has hired some employees from a training center set up by LDS
Humanitarian Services, along with other schools in the area. He also
indicated that some ACS-BPS employees sent to Ghana are also LDS
Church members.
But these connections are not surprising given the company's history.
Affiliated Computer Services' Business Process Solutions division was
founded in Sandy Utah in 1985 as a separate company by Tom Blodgett
and his brother Lynn. The company grew rapidly until it was purchased
by ACS and made into a division of the company. ACS' Business Process
Solutions now employs 5,000 employees and has $100 million in annual
revenues.
Source:
President At ACS-BPS
Accra Mail 19Jun01 B2
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