Uninor call centre creates new opportunities for women
Article:
In collaboration with a local NGO, Uninor's Bihar and Jharkhand circle set up an outbound call centre that creates sustainable job opportunities for young women from the Patna slums. Now the concept may expand to other circles.
Uninor’s Biihar and Jharkhand circle, in eastern India, has established an outbound call centre to promote and upsell products and services. Through cooperation with a local NGO, Gram Prodyogik Vikas Sansthan (GPVS), Uninor transformed this call centre into a new way of life for the women of the Patna slums.
More than charity
Through close partnership, Uninor and GPVS developed a business model for the call centre that would provide opportunities for women through communication, while simultaneously solving a business challenge in the Bihar and Jharkhand circle.
“We wanted to do something more than charity, something that would be authentic and permanent. The only sustainable way to do that is by combining Corporate Responsibility (CR) outreach with actual business needs. Our outbound call centre provides a valuable service to us as well as employment opportunities for those below the poverty line,” says Navarun Sen, Head of Marketing, Uninor.
Aligning CR with Business
Uninor’s new call centre business model is strongly aligned with the Telenor Group CR strategy, which is based on the concept of creating shared value for both the Group and for society. Through these innovative concepts, the Telenor Group enables opportunities for communities and makes a positive impact in people’s lives.
“This initiative is an excellent way of demonstrating how Uninor can create value for both society and the business. The women’s exemplary performance shows that enabling opportunities for underprivileged women can also make perfect sense from a business perspective,” said Mai Oldgard, Head of Group Corporate Responsibility, Telenor Group.
Helping women gain economic independence
Today, 33 young women are employed at the outbound call centre. In many cases, these women have emerged as the sole earning members of their families.
“We started this project with the objective of making a group of deprived young women economically independent. Today I am extremely delighted to see that each of these women is more confident, well trained and ready to take on the most challenging tasks with ease. Even more satisfying is it to see them engage with customers by intelligent upselling, product updates and being persuasive on their core assignment of outbound calling,” said Navarun Sen.