Investors willing to pour money in Call Center City

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is determined to push through with the "Call Center City" project at the South Road Properties (SRP) this year.

The Call Center City will be a one-stop-shop for outsourcing with amenities to be offered to agents working there.

It will house various amenities like a dormitory, offices for call center, facilities for education, gym, restaurants, among others.

According to Osmeña, some multi-billion companies that have expressed interest to invest in a call center at the SRP in 2017 are set to establish a framework for the project's kick-off this year.

"We will set-up a framework for the first one this year and we are going to start as soon as we can. But many investors said, I have to wait first," he said.

The mayor said the investors, whom Osmeña did not name, want to be assured of the project.

"They just want to know what is going to happen; of course this is a major investment," Osmeña told The FREEMAN.

In fact, a survey conducted last year by Nanette Garong, the city government's consultant for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), showed that at least 3,500 or 92.7 percent of the 3,800 call center agents expressed support for the establishment of the Call Center City.

The survey shows that at least 2,100 of the 3,800 agents are college graduate, 1,200 agents are college level and less than 100 agents are high school graduates.

Osmeña earlier said the Call Center City will assist the college graduate to get a master's degree; assist the college level agents to get college diploma; and assist the high school graduates to finish college.

The mayor said the city is doing this to improve the lives of call center agents who will work, study, and live in the same area once the Call Center City will be operational.

In a separate interview, Garong said they have already set an initial plan for the project.

"First, we already had a one-on-one discussion sa tanan nga mga dagko nga BPOs, unya gipangayo pud ni mayor ba ang ilang side if they are interested," she said. —