HuMetis Expansion To Halifax Could Bring As Many As 150 Jobs
HALIFAX — A global technology firm based in the U.S. is the latest company to announce expansion plans for Halifax.
IT consulting firm HuMetis Technologies will set up an office in Halifax this year, launching an expansion CEO Kumar Rangarajan says could bring as many as 150 jobs to the city.
HuMetis is a company of about 150 people with offices across the U.S., Canada, and India. The company develops software and provides IT support for organizations like Cisco, Covendis, and the State of Nebraska.
Rangarajan said HuMetis plans to expand with an office in Halifax this year, although Covid-19 makes it difficult to say exactly how big that office will initially be.
He predicted the company will hire about 10 people in Halifax by the end of 2020 but expand its operation to “upwards of 150 or more” over the next two-to-three years.
“I can say that Nova Scotia, Halifax happened at the right time for us. It was kind of meant to happen,” Rangarajan told Huddle.
He explained the company is in the process of restructuring and wants the right location to anchor its expansion. The goal, he said, is to use Halifax as a software development and quality assurance centre for HuMetis.
“This [expansion] is very strategic for us. This is going to help us not only for the Canadian market, but it’s also going to help us with the US market as well,” Rangarajan said.
Wendy Luther, the president and CEO of the Halifax Partnership, confirmed yesterday HuMetis’s expansion into the city could bring as many as 150 jobs, although she put the timeline at five years.
HuMetis’s expansion into Halifax is happening with the help of a business development incentive in the form of payroll rebates from the Nova Scotia Business Initiative (NSBI).
Based on the maximum growth forecast in its agreement with HuMetis, NSBI estimates the company could spend $23,400,000 in salaries. NSBI also estimates new employees would contribute provincial tax revenues of around $3-million and, as a result, the company is eligible for a rebate of up to $1,864,200 over five years.
Rangarajan said HuMetis chose to expand to Halifax for two main reasons.
“Number one is good schools and access to good students we can train or hire. Number two we have a government that’s willing to help us,” Rangarajan said.
He said Canada in general, and Nova Scotia specifically, have policies that are “pro-growth” and governments that are willing to “help us bring in the right personnel from anywhere in the world.”
He also said he believes the Halifax business community will “welcome us and help us be successful. That is a huge thing for a business like us. That will keep us competitive in the industry.”
“Our goal is not just the US, we want to be a respected software services provider in Canada as well. We are hungry and willing to talk and make sure we do a fantastic job for the community,” Rangarajan said.