With the sole aim of empowering its students with the knowledge relevant to BPO industry, Orion Calltech came into existence. In an interview, Manish Agarwal, Director, Orion Calltech shares the origin, growth and future plans of his company.
Ramanjit Kaur (RK): Could you please shed some light on the origin, growth and success of Orion Calltech?
Manish Agarwal (MA): Orion Calltech was established in the year 2005 as a unit of Orion Edutech Pvt. Ltd. Initially, it was Sanjeev Kothari’s (Co- Founder) idea to start BPO training institute, but later we both took the initiative to start an institute to provide valuable services to the aspiring individuals. Orion Calltech the only ISO 9001:2000 institute, envisions to empower its students with industry specific competency levels- the knowledge relevant to BPO industry.
RK: What inspired Orion Calltech to take the franchise route to expand the brand across the nation?
MA: We wanted to expand and open training centres across the country and abroad. We believe that growth can be successfully achieved through partnerships and alliances. We always believed in having ‘Smaller share of bigger pie, than bigger share of smaller pie”, the whole idea was to make the ‘pie bigger’.
RK: What is the USP of Orion Calltech? How it is different from other schools?
MA: Orion Calltech is a consortium of expertise with the fittest trainers in BPO training. Unparalleled quality of delivery, flexibility and values are hallmarks of Orion
Calltech’s training programmes. We have successfully tied-up with Labour Ministry of India to provide subsidy to our student’s under ‘Skill Development for registered job-seekers’. Our courses are certified by BPO Certification Institute, Inc. USA and approved by NASSCOM. Besides all this, we have tied-up with more than 150 BPO companies like Genpact, IBM, Wipro, HGSL, Spanco, Tech Mahindra and few more for the successful placement of our students.
RK: What practices and initiatives have you introduced in Orion Calltech?
MA: We focus on the candidates from non-English back ground, which is the sole reason of our expansion in tier II and tier III cities. We have monthly evaluation and placement audit system to ensure that quality is maintained in all our centres.
RK: What kind of background is necessary to secure the franchise of your company?
MA: To be an Orion Calltech’s business partner, a prospective franchisee is not required to have any prior experience in the education field or specific professional qualifications. However, we prefer young entrepreneurs with qualities such as:
- Strong will power and determination
- Good managerial and administrative experience
- Sound financial background
- Networking skills
- Customer service orientation
RK: What kind of training and support does a franchisee get after partnering with your company?
MA: The four pillars of education and training business are infrastructure; marketing; quality and placement. We support our franchisees in all these areas. We help them in the following:
- Selection of appropriate location
- Interior design and layout of the centre
- Complete project guidance
- Advertisement in newspapers and electronic media entirely at our cost
- Appointment of administrators- one person for every four to six centres
- Proper local marketing plans on weekly basis
- Helps in printing the promotional materials
- Recruitment and training of faculties and counselors
- Standardised training methodology
- Training of the franchisees
- Evaluation and placement audit on monthly basis
- Admin guidance through ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
- 100 per cent placement to all our students
RK: How many franchised centres do you presently have? What are your future target locations to expand?
MA: We have 175+ centres across the country. By March 2011, we are planning to have 300 centres across the country and abroad.
RK: Any advice for the young entrepreneurs?
MA: Taking up the franchise is the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to start and own a business. Nevertheless, merely investing in an organisation will not yield profit, unless the franchisee devotes his/ her quality time and attention to the franchise business.
RK: What are the future plans of the company in terms of expansion through franchising?
MA: We have already started our operations in Bhutan and Bangladesh. In near future, we are planning to expand in global markets by either appointing Master Franchisees or entering into a JV in countries like Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Malaysia, Kenya, and China.
