42 | Acquisition International | December 2013

REGIONAL ROUND-UP:The new rising stars – Mauritius

Today, CSL also offers expert consultancy services on the setting up of call centres. Presently, we are fully involved in the setting up of a call centre for the Swaziland Posts and Telecommunication Corporation in Swaziland.

We have also diversified our service portfolio by introducing the disaster recovery service for business continuity and a full fledge debt recovery service for both local and international businesses.

Its 14 years of specialist experience in the Call Center/ BPO industry and association with the latest technology (CISCO and VOCALCOM) and state of the art infrastructure gives CSL a competitive edge over its competitors.

Being a subsidiary of the Mauritius Telecom Group, one of the leading and most profitable companies in Mauritius, CSL can provide an assurance to its clients that there is no risk of relocation or site closure.

This fact also helps CSL to attract human resource and to maintain a relatively low attrition rate compared to other small or short life-span call centres. CSL’s production platform, which started with 100 positions in 1999, presently hosts some 467 positions. The volume of calls, which stood at 7 million in 2005, rose to 10.4m in 2012 and at least the same performance is expected in 2013.

In addition, CSL has been an ISO-certified company since June 2005 and the first call centre in Mauritius to obtain the NF (Normalisation Française) certification in March 2013.

CSL is endeavouring to become the first call centre in Mauritius and in the region to become COPC (Customer Operations Performance Centre) certified. CSL is also planning to set up a new call centre platform as from April 2014 in Madagascar. This initiative is being taken by CSL’s top management to further expand its call centre business and offer its existing and potential clients with services at a very competitive rate.

These continuous quality improvements demonstrate that CSL is committed to providing the best possible service to its client and becoming a centre of excellence.

Why Mauritius?Mauritius, ideally located at the heart of the Indian Ocean, has positioned itself as an enticing global business platform to many international players in the ICT/BPO industry. Because of its strategic position, Mauritius acts as a natural gateway between Europe, Asia and the African continent.

Shane Seebaluck, Executive Operations/Acting General Manager, and Chanda Peerthum-Woodun, Head, Business Development, Sales and Marketing, both from CSL BPO Services explain the advantages of Mauritius as a business process outsourcing (BPO) destination.--------------------------------------------------------------

CSL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mauritius Telecom Group (the historical telecommunication company in Mauritius) and has been the pioneer in the development of the contact centre and BPO industry in Mauritius since 1999.

The core services of CSL are inbound and outbound Customer Relationship Management (CRM) services. Initially serving as an in-house call centre for Mauritius Telecom Group, CSL has now grown organically with customers in sectors like betting, utility companies, financial institutions, market research and government bodies.

CSL’s activities cover both the voice and the non-voice segments of the BPO sector. Its call centre segment handles both inbound and outbound calls while its ‘non-voice’ department caters for the ‘corporate services’, ‘knowledge process outsourcing’ and ‘industry specific back office’ tasks.

CSL endeavours to innovate and has recently introduced the Hotel Call Centre concept that allows small/medium call centres to rent call centre working positions without any infrastructure investment.

Its time zone (GMT + 4 hours) allows an uninterrupted connection between important international business centres.

One of the reasons Mauritius is a preferred call centre/BPO destination is that it has bilingual agents who can easily switch between French and English.

The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology has put in place a Placement and Training programme, in which CSL is fully engaged, to enhance employability of school leavers/job seekers. This programme provides for at least 50% reimbursement of the salary cost of these recruits as well as their training cost.

It is expected that the ICT/BPO Sector will be the leading pillar of the Mauritian economy by 2020. Its contribution to the economy currently stands at 7% of GDP.

Investing in Mauritius, which is ranked 54th out of 144 countries and 2nd in Sub-Saharan Africa, after South Africa as per The World Economic Forum’s global competitiveness index for 2012-2013, brings a number of benefits:• Political and Legal stability – Mauritius benefits

from its solid democratic condition within the Commonwealth, an independent judiciary and a sound legal system incorporating French (civil) and British (common) law.

• Liberal and innovative economy – Mauritius’ sound economy and its adoption of bold economic reforms have projected the country to its place among the top most competitive, liberal and innovative economies in the world.

• Social and cultural harmony – known for its legendary hospitality, high standard of living and cultural openness, Mauritius is projected as a safe destination for trade and investment.

• Modern Telecommunication Infrastructure and Network – Mauritius has a well-developed digital network infrastructure and high bandwidth capabilities. Mauritius is connected to a global network of communication via the submarine fibre optic cables: SAFE/ EASSy/ LION/ SAT-3, ensuring very high bandwidth communications & reliability whilst reducing connectivity costs.

• Trained and skilled workforce – Mauritius has the highest adult literacy rate in Africa and offers a pool of qualified and skilled workforce. Mauritius is a preferred destination for French and English speaking clients.

• A light tax regime – Mauritius being a low-tax jurisdiction country, offers a range of fiscal incentives to investors such as: a flat corporate and income tax rate of 15%, 100% foreign ownership, free repatriation of profits, dividends, and capital etc.

The new rising stars Mauritius

Company: CSL BPO ServicesWeb Address: www.cslbpo.comAddress: 5th Floor, Orange Tower, EbeneName: Shane SeebaluckEmail: shane.seebaluck@mauritiustelecom.comTelephone: +230 203 9903 / +230 203 9901Name: Chanda Peerthum WoodunEmail: chanda.peerthum@mauritiustelecom.comTelephone: +230 203 9914/+230 203 9904