Narayan AmmachchiJamaican call center firm Itel has acquired its Guyanese rival Emerge BPO, adding more than 700 employees to its global workforce in addition to winning access to some deep-pocketed US clients.
Founded in 2008, Emerge BPO runs large delivery centers in Guyana and Honduras, with most of its US workers being home-based.
The news comes a month after Itel announced its plans to expand operations to Guyana and Honduras.
Emerge’s delivery center, according to Itel, is located “in the heart of” Georgetown, Guyana’s capital city. This will “offer Itel the physical space to grow and scale,” stated the Jamaican company in a press release.
“It has the immediate capacity to hold 1,500 additional staff with potential for further build-out, and the facility’s urban setting gives access to a young, educated labor pool among the city’s population of over 200,000 inhabitants.”
Emerge’s Honduran office is in Altia Smart City, San Pedro Sula. It is not clear how many people are working in this center.
“Over the first 90-days, we will focus on ensuring the new operations and facilities are enhanced to reflect ‘the Itel way.’ We will be investing heavily in training and development of its people and systems, as well as upgrades to their sites and IT infrastructure,” said Itel’s CEO Yoni Epstein.
Emerge BPO was founded in 2008 by Adrian Collins, who was born in Guyana and educated largely in the United States. American retailers, such as Wayfair, are among its clients.
Itel has stated in the press release that it would retain Emerge’s senior team, without specifying whether it would keep Collins on board.
Add comment