[Asterisk-biz] Madagascar / Call center opportunity

[Jean-Michel Hiver]

Hi List,

I think I can see a call center opportunity in Madagascar and I would 
like to know if somebody working in this industry would like to join 
with me in such a venture.

Madagascar has a large, well educated work force with excellent French 
language skills. Minimum wage there is about 30€ / month. Agricultural 
workers earn about half a dollar a day. 100€ / month is considered quite 
a decent wage there - thus labor is very inexpensive.

Madagascar is going to be connected to the SAFE cable during 2006 which 
should improve quality of VoIP drastically, although it is already quite 
acceptable using guaranteed bandwith satellite connections.

What I have already is:

- The geographical proximity (I live in Reunion Island which is about an 
hours flight)
- Large premises there (400 square meters which can be extended to 800)
- Up to 2 Mbps guaranteed connectivity (I only use 256kbps at the moment 
for our needs).
- A legal structure (limited company) with a reliable malagasy 
co-manager in place.
- Decent network and VoIP knowledge, plus solid programming and database 
knowledge and business skills

I am looking for somebody who has experience in the call center business 
(and preferably with French markets since Malagasy workforce is very 
proficient at French) to take advantage of the very competitive cost of 
work there.

What I lack is:

- Knowledge of most commonly used applications in call center operations 
(so I can train employees)
- Commercial network in the call center industry. I've never touched 
this business before but I can just see the opportunity.

If you have any thoughts, just let me know. I just have this massive, 
empty premises, the internet connectivity, and with the right 
connections I can see desks here and there and the place buzzing with 
activity... nothing would please me more to be able to build something 
like this, especially since the country actually badly needs this kind 
of economic investment / initiative.

Let me know what you think!

Cheers,
Jean-Michel.