Different investors have decided a total amount of £1m to invest in Call Britannia, a UK contact centre business, which aims to create approximately 10,000 jobs for the unemployed.
Backers include The Bridges Ventures’ “Social Entrepreneurs Fund”, which has committed to invest £500k, and Big Issue Invest, which has committed to invest £350k. A further £292,500 has been awarded by the government’s Future Jobs Fund and a further £150k of the investment will come from the management team headed by social entrepreneur and Call Britannia’s founder Karen Darby.
Call Britannia is an outsource customer contact centre that will provide sustainable employment for the long-term unemployed (as well as a high-quality service to customers) headquartering itself in some of the UK’s most economically-challenged areas.
The company aims to open ten contact centres across the UK over the next seven years, giving 10,000 staff a minimum of six months’ employment, and equipping them with the skills, accredited training, support and work experience they will need to provide clients with a first class service. Following this ‘incubation period’ Call Britannia will work with its ‘graduates’ to help them find work using their new skills and experience.
In addition, organizations in both the private and public sector will be encouraged to sub-contract work from their contact centres to Call Britannia and will also have the opportunity to recruit trained and skilled Call Britannia ‘graduates’ at no cost.
Karen Darby of Call Britannia was reported as saying: “This deal will allow us to launch the first Call Britannia contact centre and we can’t wait to get started. We want to create a contact centre business with a conscience and believe we can be highly successful commercially, whilst delivering a huge benefit to the local community and the individuals who work for us”.
FinSMEs
16/11/2009