— as efforts being made to renovate Kara Kara Call Centre
Linden-based, overseas-based companies to benefit from call centre renovation

By Vanessa Braithwaite

THE bill of quantities for the renovation of the Kara Kara Call Centre, which formerly housed the Toucan Connection Call Centre, is currently being completed. The procurement process will then be engaged in.

This is according to Telecommunications Minister Catherine Hughes, who, last December, included in her ministry’s $4.4 B 2019 budget, $60 M to fund extensive renovation of the building, in an effort to create jobs for Lindeners.

Hughes said her government, being cognisant of the employment situation in Linden, will be funding the renovation of the building, making it ready for investors, who will, in turn, man the facility.

“Already we have about three avenues of possibilities that we think we can get started… we have three different partners that we are working with to put that call centre back in operation,” she said.

Included in the three is LinDev, a small call centre owned by two Linden brothers, Kirk and Collis Limerick and is operating in proximity of the Kara Kara Call Centre. In addition to LinDev, Hughes said her ministry is in conversation with an overseas- based investor who has expressed serious interest in also establishing a call centre at the location.
Hughes said she had about four engagements with the management of LinDev and is appreciative of the constraints they are facing, relative to space and Internet connectivity and is excited to provide this opportunity for them to expand. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LinDev, Collis Limerick related that the company has 13 employees and is servicing one contract. While there are avenues for more contracts and clients, the current facility can only accommodate 22 agents per shift.

LinDev is optimistic of the transition over to the newly-renovated call centre which can house approximately 144 agents per shift.

“With stable scalable contracts we would transition our operations to that facility, providing greater returns for our clients in the process,” LinDev related. The company’s goal is to deliver and develop through excellence, ideas and innovation by making it a vehicle for development for its clients, employees and community, thus becoming a large stable employer in the mining town of Linden.

The Toucan Connection Call Centre was abruptly closed in 2015, leaving about 90 employees out of a job. The St Kitts-based call centre shut its doors, within no prior notification and many of the workers, up to this day, have not received severance pay. At least one of these workers is still unemployed and while she tried to commence her own cosmetology business, she believes that those who were laid off should get first preference when it is time for the new companies to commence operations. Speaking under anonymity, she said, “I am still interested in working, because I still have my training, I am a trained agent and I know many of my friends are still unemployed too. I started by own business but it is not as bright as I wanted it to be, so when they start up again, I would want to be employed,” she said.

BRIGHT FUTURE
Minister Hughes believes that there is a bright future for call centre operations in Guyana and her ministry will continue to support this business.

“Guyana has a tremendous advantage in expanding the call centre business; we actually have 5,000 seats right now in about four call centres… because we speak English, because we are on the same time zone as the US, there is tremendous opportunity to expand the business,” she said.

The minister recently attended a Business Process Outsourcing Conference in Curacao where she engaged with several companies in the same business and is excited about the prospects for Guyana and more particularly in Linden, since many of the youths already possess the skills needed to be a call centre agent. Scores of Linden youths have been benefiting from Information Communication Technology training from the Board of Industrial Training in collaboration with the Office of the First Lady, Sandra Granger.