On 7th and 8th of November 150 participants from the U.S. and Latin America will gather together during the first Central American summit on outsourcing services to be held in Nicaragua.
From information published by ProNicaragua:
ProNicaragua, the official investment and export promoter of the Government of Nicaragua, will be organizing the first Central American summit on outsourcing services entitled 'Central American Nearshore Summit 2013, which will bring together 150 participants from the U.S. and Latin America in this sector.
From January to September this year the Salvadoran textile and clothing sector exported $792.4 million, 6.7% less than in the same period in 2011.
Elsalvador.com reports that "The production of textiles and clothing lost momentum in growth between January and September compared to the same period last year due to a slowdown in the U.S. economy and the fiscal crisis in Europe .
As part of its expansion plan in the region, the utility plans to open two new call centers in Guatemala this year.
The new centers will employ about four thousand workers, one will be opened in the capital and the other in the province, said Manuel Apraciio, director of Transactel in Guatemala.
"The executive said the company's expansion is part of a new $11 million investment of planned for this year in Central America, of which about 65% will go to Guatemala," reported Prensalibre.com.
Transactel continues to grow. It is currently looking for a new building outside San Salvador, and has advertised for 250 vacancies to be filled, predicting that at the end the year they will have a total of 2,300 employees.
Guillermo Valiente, director of Transactel El Salvador, said that one potential site for the new headquarters is in the Northern Zone, but "the most important thing is whether the human resources will be there."
Transactel is the only Central American capital corporation providing Business Process Outsourcing Services / Contact Center (BPO).
It currently has 1.700 employees and expects to hire a total of 2.000 by the first three months of 2011.
The company continues with a steady growth since creation in 2007, when it provided jobs to 30 people. During 2009 it grew 180% from 600 to 1.700 employees.
With a $11 million investment the company opened new headquarters in Transactel Tower.
During the inauguration Mario Lopez, Vice-President, announced the company expects to create 3,000 new jobs in Central America in 2011.
Elperiodico.com.gt reported the executive stating: "... we are looking for a new building in Guatemala, the one we have is already filled, we should have it by the first half of 2011."
Salvadoran shopping malls are incorporating companies whose activities assure large number of visitors.
Transactel is almost ready to open a call center at Shopping Mall Plaza Merliot, and the mall is preparing by tailoring its stores to serve a younger audience.
“We have met with store owners, and they agreed to adapt to some of the requirements of these consumers, which are mostly young individuals”, assured Marcela Velasco, marketing manager at Plaza Merliot.
Bimbo de Centroamérica S.A. was recognized as the Best Exporter of the Year by Agexport.
Agexport, the Guatemalan Exporters Association, awarded various companies in different categories.
Local newspaper El Periodico lists the winners: Tecojate S.A. won the Agriculture Exporter award, Genesis Partnership Company won best Manufacture Exporter, Transactel won in Services, and the Productivity award was given to Paul Ecke Guatemala.
On Friday, Transactel will inaugurate its fifth call center facility in the country.
Located in Quetzaltenango, it will hire an initial 150 workers, expecting to increase its payroll to 550 in the medium term. It will provide customer support from three U.S. companies.
From Sigloxxi.com: "'We could create one thousand additional jobs, if more people spoke English', said Guillermo Montano, Transactel manager".
Transactel, a corporation with Guatemalan and Salvadoran capital, made an investment of $2 million in the new center of operations.
Elsalvador.com reports that "In his speech, the Transactel CEO said that they were proud to inaugurate the second center of operations which will provide jobs to an initial 450 bilingual employees, especially young people between 20 and 24 years, thereby contributing to the economic development of the country.
The expansion of Digitex, 24/7 Customer, Transactel, Staffers, Red Ventures, and Genpact is triggering an increase in the demand for bilingual workers and at the same time is causing salaries in the sector to rise.
More personnel with a good level of English are needed.
Mario Marroquin, Director of Invest (an agency in Guatemala), points out that it is necessary to transform the national education curriculum to include English courses.
Transactel would open a call center in the Province of Quetzaltenango, in the next few months.
Mario López, manager of commercialization of Transactel explained that he has already conducted an exploratory mission, in order to get to know Quetzaltenango and to ascertain the number of qualified workers in the area. He cited the decentralization of services and opportunities for workers in the area as reasons for the call center opening.
Inmobiliaria Spectrum will invest 55 million dollars in the Oakland Mall in Guatemala City.
As well, in the sector of the Contact Center, the Spanish company Atento has announced a new 10-million-dollar office that will employ 530 persons, while Transactel will invest three million dollars to expand its operations in Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama.