I am just getting back from a whirlwind tour of Guatemala City, Managua Nicaragua and San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Three cities in 4 hectic days. WHile I have founded call centers in Costa Rica and Guatemala.... and am in the process of developing one in Honduras, I had never traveled to Nicaragua. I was pleasantly surprised at the growth of the industry in Nicaragua.

The week started on Monday, the 25th, when I left Costa Rica at 6:30 am for a flight to Guatemala City. The flights were uneventful, and I landed in Guatemala about 9:40, after a short layover in El Salvador. Actual flying time was about an hour and a half, not even enough time to get uncomfortable. I started my day in Guatemala with breakfast with an old friend (My taxi driver from the period I spent there last year). On arriving at the beautiful Radisson Hotel, I found out I had recieved a room upgrade.

The view from my Ninth Floor suite was spectacular.

Guatemala City is one of the most beautiful cities in Latin America, and much has happened in the year since I last visited.

The Call Center industry has littery exploded and it is easy to see why. Invest in Guatemala, the organization responsible for bringing investment to Guatemala, has done a spectacular job recruiting outsourcing orgazinations to Guatemala.

Having founded a call center in Guatemala last year, I was not surprised at the progress that has been made there . What I found most surprising was Nicaragua. While in Nicaragaua we visited a couple of BPO and Contact Center Operations, these two young ladies worked for one of them, a company providing support to an Investment Bank in California.

The level of talent was amazing. Both of these two ladies spoke English as well as I, and the one on the left is an MBA. The operations ranged from sophisticated operations in ultra modern facilities, to simple voice over ip based cubicle farms in small houses. It was not the sophistication or lack thereof that made the impact, it was the variety and intensity in which the Nicaraguans are attacking the opportunity.

With the project I am managing (currently on hiatus) in Honduras, I am certain that the industry will take off there as well.

I received another email today from someone interested in building a call center somewhere in Central America. It will be an interesting summer. And likely a lot of flying... Speaking of which... If I had an option, I would never fly Taca again...

One of four LATE Taca Flights, last week. This one from Managua to San Salvador...

More on that later.

Crossposted to my Business Blog

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Posted by: agent bedhead at July 6, 2007 07:37 PM