₦airaland Forum

chelsam

My wife is from Ogun state and I have my house in Sango, Otta and I have been to Nigeria before. I know the electricity crisis in the country but I am prepared to kick start in Nigeria. My wife is back in Nigiera and she is also researching on this. Her brother was one of the supervisor in my call centre in Uk and he is back in Ogun as well. So I have two trusted and experienced people in Nigeria. Also I will bring one of my senior training manager to come and stay in Nigeria for around 2-3 months. I belive I can do it in Nigeria.

Zulfi

Pappilo

that sounds good. We sold TalkTalk business for 1 year and we were their premier channel partner. Do you any idea how much commission we get when we switch an electricity/gas customer in UK. Sales commission ranges between £200-15500 per meter per customer based upon their estimated annual electricity/gas consumption. And remember, electricity/gas is a necessity and every business have to have it.

Zulfi

hi chelsam
I will be happy to get your feedback as it will be crucial to everyone who is thinking of setting up a call centre in Nigeria.

my email address is zabutt@gmail.com

pappilo

you are welcome to come and visit my call centre in Stratford, Londond. It is a modest 25 people call centre and my call centre in Pakistan is a 10 seater call centre. The figure £30 a month is for broadband, I didn't say that is the call cost. We use VOIP to make calls. I am not asking people to pay me for anything. All I am trying to do is to explore opportunities. Which company did you work for in UK?

Zulfi

Hi
We have contracts with 4-5 big blue companies in UK and we sell their products. Let me give you an example of an electricity product: There are 7-8 electricity companies in UK. A customer (business or domestic) can buy electricity/gas from any of the supplier. We call customers to switch their electricity/gas from one supplier to the other for cheaper rates and get paid by the supplier. The whole switching process is free for the customer. The electricity supply is done by a company called National Grid on behalf of suppliers, so there is no physical change (like change of meter or cable etc). The only thing that changes is the Bill. Instead of company A, the customer will receive the bill from company B.

Zulfi

Hi
I am not looking for any partner or a buyer. I am looking for people if they already have a call centre or if people are willing to setup a call centre, I can provide them work (no cost from our side). They will sell products to UK customers (all products are free services to the customers) through their call centres. Basically I can provide you the businesses who will outsource their products/services to local call centres in Nigeria.

Zulfi

I agree with your opinion. I visited Nigeria twice last year and I am going there again next month. You are right, electricity supply is a problem in Nigeria, but due to the cheap fuel prices in Nigeria, there is not much difference in cost. Like in UK, I pay nearly £300 per month electricity bill. At my home in Sango Otta, we run a small 3.5 kv generator and it costs around £3-4 per day. Obviously a bigger generator for the call centre will come with a bigger price but still the business can absorb this cost.
On the other hand, I have already contracts from major UK suppliers like British Gas Business, EON, Scottish Power, TalkTalk broadband to whom I provide my services from UK and from Pakistan. I don't have any restriction in my contract to where my sales agent should be.
The other issue regarding fraud/scam in your reply can be dealt by designing efficient business process. For example, when one of our sales advisors in Pakistan sells a product, he/she is not allowed to take any bank details from the customer. We have a system in place, where every single call (out going or in coming) is recorded automatically. So there is a little room for any of this kind of activities.

Hi
Most of the companies in UK have call centres based in India. I have my call centre in UK and one in Pakistan. The only problem I see in setting up the call centre in Nigeria is the quality of broadband service provides. Even in countries like Pakista, we have 5 MB broadband and pay around £30 (7000-7500 naira) per month. The cost of employees in Nigeria will be lot less compare to the one in UK. Currently I pay around £200 per week + commission to the junior sales advisors.
By the way I am from Pakistan and have business in UK and married to a lovely lady from Ogun state in 1997 and have 3 children .

Zulfi

Is there any one out there who is interested in setting up an outbound call centre selling domestic/commercial products/services to UK?

Hi
Where exactly is the plot in Sango. Can you describe the location?

Zulfi