GlowTouch Lands in Dominican Republic: Job Creation is Just the Start

GlowTouch, one of the few business process outsourcing (BPO) empires built and led by a female, is doubling down on its bet on the Dominican Republic, where the company sees jobs as just one piece of a larger vision of engaging and supporting local communities.

“To me, it’s about employment creation, it’s about being able to give people an opportunity to level the playing field by giving them economic opportunities for themselves personally, for their extended families and for their communities”, said GlowTouch’s president, Vidya Ravichandran, during the company’s launch of a newly renovated facility in the “Plaza Central” shopping center. The facility was retrofitted during the last year and currently has space to support over 500 agents and support staff.

Vidya has high expectations for the impact of the new facility amongst Santo Domingo’s residents. For her, it’s all about creating an ecosystem of opportunity.

“We want to do right by our employees. We are committed to doing our best, not only by creating jobs, but also in engaging with the communities and engaging with underserved areas,” she said.

This philosophy runs deep in her approach to business. For Vidya, entrepreneurship is mostly about using one’s own privileged position to give others -not only individuals, but whole communities- a shot at climbing the ladder.

“I come from a family of entrepreneurs, and I have seen this […] It was always about how can we help other people that don’t have the same privileges and opportunities we have,” she said.

Vidya is a successful entrepreneur with over two decades of business experience under her belt. GlowTouch began in the early 2000s as a small operator in the global contact center industry. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic stroked an unprecedented demand for online services, allowing the company to grow by leaps and bounds in a couple years. “Our revenue grew 50% and 60% in 2020 and 2021, respectively,” Vidya told The Business Journals in February this year.

The BPO that began its journey with barely three workers has now grown to employ close to 2,500 people in four countries across the globe. The DR facility is the company’s fifth contact center in the past year, with the others opened in Miami, Florida, and San Antonio, Texas. It also opened offshore centers in Mysore, India, and Manila, Philippines.

GlowTouch, a Woman-Built Empire

GlowTouch stands out amongst BPO companies for the fact that it was built by a woman, who helms the company to this day. Also, about half of its senior VPs are women.

Vidya launched the company in 2002. Since then, GlowTouch’s founder and president has been honored with several awards. This year, she was named a Louisville Business First “Enterprising Woman”, a title that recognizes the contributions of businesswomen in the Louisville area to both business and the community as a whole.

GlowTouch is also a WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise)-certified company. WBENC is described as “the most widely recognized and respected national certification for women-owned businesses in the U.S.,”and it is held by companies such as DevMar, BRITE and Accel Inc.