Member Article

Call centre entrepreneur opens North Shields operation

A North East entrepreneur has opened a new Call Centre venture based in North Shields - in a bid to ‘reshore’ jobs lost to overseas contracts.

Andy Bowen has launched UK-PI and is using his E-Achieve training outfit to support its staff recruitment and employment training.

The two firms are exploring overseas opportunities and have already secured part of a £1 million contract to support businesses in the North East with workplace learning and upskilling the workforce.

Andy has turned to UKTI and its International Trade Adviser, Lissa Balmer, to help identify new markets. This has already resulted in relationship with a Lithuanian college to provide a youth programme.

Andy said: “For too long the UK contact centres have been known for only quality and not price and all too often services were moved overseas.

“Now, as more and more companies are looking for brand protection, quality and performance, our nationally accredited contact centre staff are repeatedly wowing customers whilst continually delivering a high level of service.

“We’re aiming to bring back jobs to the North East and have once again teamed up with UKTI to promote the benefits of UK-based services to the global market.”

Speaking after a tour of the new centre, where he met managers and staff, David Coppock, UKTI’s regional director for the North East, said: “E-Achieve and UK-PI are great examples of companies that have already recognised the value of internationalising their business.

“They are not only exporting their services but also bringing inward investment into the region.

“The new business has also been supported by Reshore UK, a new one-stop-shop service to help companies bring production back to the UK that is run by UKTI and the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS).

“I was delighted to be given the opportunity to meet Andy and his team to see how this new initiative is supporting local companies. I hope their experience will inspire others to join the global race and help in our efforts to ensure the North East plays a key part in achieving the Government’s target of UK exports reaching £1 trillion by 2020.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .