By Business & Finance 
Christina Kenny, Chief People Officer, Abtran; Pat Ryan, CEO, Abtran; Heather Humphreys TD, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation and Julie Sinnamon, CEO, Enterprise Ireland (Photo: Rory Geary)
Abtran has announced the creation of 350 jobs in Sligo for its new operations hub. This is linked to the firm’s Irish expansion plans in the north-west.
This announcement was made by Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD, alongside Pat Ryan, CEO of Abtran, and Julie Sinnamon, CEO of Enterprise Ireland. The development is supported by the government through Enterprise Ireland.
Abtran background and new developments
Ireland’s home-grown business process outsourcing (BPO) already employs 2,000 people in Cork, Dublin, Kildare and Southern India.
Established in 1997, Abtran specialises in providing services across government, transport, utilities and financial services.
Carlyle Cardinal Ireland (CCI), the Irish private equity fund established by The Carlyle Group and Cardinal Capital Group, is a major shareholder in Abtran and invested in the company in 2015.
The company will put its new regional operations centre in a high-tech facility at Finisklin Business Park in Sligo, which will be in full business in the third quarter of this year.
Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD, said:
This is a tremendous day for Abtran, for Sligo and for the north-west. One of the government’s big priorities is ensuring we have the right conditions and supports in place to encourage job creation in the regions. That’s why I’m delighted to announce this significant investment by Abtran in a new regional hub, which will create 350 jobs in Sligo.
Humphreys continued: “The company’s continuous innovation, market leadership and investment in high-quality resources have made this indigenous Irish business deeply competitive. The fact that they have chosen to invest in the north-west to serve their business markets both at home and abroad is a testament to the confidence they have in the region and its talented workforce. Ireland will continue to be an acknowledged leader in this sector driven by initiatives like this by Abtran.”
Recent announcements and success
Abtran recently announced three high-profile appointments: Aisling Deasy as Chief Information Officer, Petrina Tinney as Chief Operations Officer and Christina Kenny as Chief People Officer.
Christina Kenny, Chief People Officer; Aisling Deasy, Chief Information Officer and Petrina Tinney, Chief Operations Officer, Abtran (Photo: Michael O’Sullivan)
Aisling Deasy was part of Business & Finance‘s CIO 100 list in April, celebrating the top chief information officers in Ireland over the last 12 months.
Pat Ryan, CEO of Abtran, said:
Ireland will continue to be a key part of the global growth ambitions that we have as Ireland’s largest home-grown BPO provider. We also believe it is very important to support national and regional economic development wherever possible through the growth of our operations. We engaged in a detailed process where potential locations were reviewed and assessed in consultation with Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland.
Ryan continued: “Based on the skillsets identified for our business needs, we selected the North West region as the location for our new operations hub and we are very pleased to announce these new jobs in Sligo which will complement our overall high quality workforce.”
Julie Sinnamon, CEO of Enterprise Ireland, said:
Enterprise Ireland welcomes the announcement of 350 new jobs at Abtran in Sligo and is delighted to support the company’s global ambition. Abtran is a great example of how an Irish business, with a blueprint for services innovation, can successfully accelerate and rapidly scale its business in international markets. The company’s success is underpinned by the value that it offers clients in terms of its knowledge, insight and experience around customer service delivery throughout multiple sectors.
Recruitment has begun for the new roles in Sligo and further details will be announced on a new jobs page in the coming weeks.
