2007年VOA标准英语-West Africans Profit in Call Centers

By Naomi Schwarz
Dakar
04 February 2007

In West Africa, many of today's technologically¹ sophisticated college graduates are making money and helping² develop a new industry in the region: internet-based call centers. The call centers provide telephone marketing³ and customer service for companies around the world. Naomi Schwarz recently visited a start-up call center in Senegal's capital, Dakar and reports on the growing industry.

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Operators standing by pretending they are French

In his private life, Senegalese Moustapha Diallo is known by his given name. But when he is answering telephone calls at a call center in downtown Dakar he uses a different identity.

Today, Diallo is Frédérique Maillard. And he is not the only one.

We are all Frédérique Maillard today, he says, referring to his male co-workers. He says the customers in France feel more comfortable when he uses a familiar-sounding name.

Diallo and his colleagues provide telephone marketing and customer service for corporate⁵ clients. And with low-cost internet telephones and inexpensive labor⁶, they can do it for less money than a call center in Europe.

Call center operators in France are paid far more than us, says Agnes Bassène, who works with Diallo. But, she says, I tell myself that it is because their cost of living is much higher.

Sitting in front of a computer, with a headset, Bassene, Diallo and their colleagues use the computer to make phone calls to France. They are doing a telemarketing campaign.

At call centers that take calls directly, the customers in France dial a French telephone number and are re-routed over the internet to an operator in Senegal or elsewhere. Call centers also use fax machines and e-mail to follow-up with customers.

The first call centers came to Senegal about five years ago. Other call centers have opened in Mali, Benin, and elsewhere in West Africa.

Senegal's largest call center now has more than 500 employees. But the current trend is for smaller enterprises. With a minimum of equipment, a few computers, headsets, and fax machines, and a high-speed internet connection, even a private house can become a call center.

"It is coming. I hear about a lot of new call centers that want to start," said Zohar Zeidan, who founded the Way2Call call center with a French partner less than a year ago, in a commercial space above Dakar's bustling⁷ downtown Sandaga market.

Zeidan, who has opened other call centers elsewhere in Africa, estimates that Senegal now has approximately 20 percent of France's offshore⁸ call center business, behind Morocco and Mauritius.

France is the biggest client for call centers in former French colonies, like Senegal. French is still the national language in many of the former colonies, so there are many fluent speakers. The companies save money by using an off-shore call center, and, Zeidan says, the off-shore call centers do everything possible to make it seem like the customer is not dealing⁹ with someone in another country.

But, he says, France is not the only country hiring African call centers.

In a small conference room, Agnes Bassène and another colleague are testing the English conversation skills of several job candidates for a new contract Way2Call has just signed with an American company.

Zeidan says African call centers should also look to local businesses for future clients.

"I am preparing some offers for local companies here who do not know what a call center is," said Zeidan. "They do not know what a call center can do for them. If they knew, they would quickly come."

Bassène, who has a degree in business and law, says that she would prefer to have a job more directly related to her studies. She says she works at the call center because she could not find a job in her field for many months.

Zohar Zeidan says others are eager for the jobs and resumes are pouring in.

"Every day I have between five and 10 C.V.'s. Every day. I did not have any advertising," added Zeidan.

Unemployment estimates in West Africa are relatively¹⁰ high, reaching 40percent and higher. As more students graduate with college degrees, they find it hard to get jobs that make use of their skills and education.

Call centers provide one such opportunity, and employees say it also gives them a chance to interact with people from all around the world.

1 technologically   

ad.技术上地

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a technologically advanced city. 上海是中国的一个技术先进的城市。
• Many senior managers are technologically illiterate. 许多高级经理都对技术知之甚少。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

8 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

9 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

10 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。