The Demise of Project Call Center

This week the BECA staff decided -- with my full support -- to shut down BECA's "Project Call Center."

I'm very disappointed. From the beginning it has been a project close to my heart.

The original logic behind Project Call Center was the following. One of the only industries in Nicaragua in which there is demand for labor is the call center industry. The pay is well above average; about USD $500 a month. To get a job, you have to speak reasonably-good English.

My thinking was, let's take a bunch of interested students and teach them English. Intensively. At the best schools we can find. BECA's investment will be higher than usual, but the students will be able to pay us back once they are working.

How hard could that be?

It turns out much harder than I thought.

Almost two years have passed, and the original six participants still haven't received firm offers for employment.

I figure that the original six -- we call them the "pioneers" -- speak pretty darn good.

Obviously, the call centers think otherwise.

I feel we threw everything we had at them. Different schools (including months at a supposedly prestigious language institute associated with a supposedly prestigious university), personal instruction from native speakers, a custom-designed curriculum.

There comes a time when you say enough is enough.

And lesson learned.

But what exactly might that lesson be?

Don't stray from your original values.

One of the basic core values of our organization is impartiality.

We didn't practice what we preach. We dedicated an inordinate amount of resources to a handful of program participants, potentially at the expense of others. And then we did the unthinkable, admitting even more participants ("Project Call Center II") at the beginning of 2013.

It wasn't right.

It was my idea and I accept full responsibility.

I don't have any regrets. We pilot many things in BECA, always seeking to innovate and improve.

It was just that this pilot went on way too long.

In closing, allow me to extend my gratitude to the all of the program participants for their persistence and their patience. Thanks for hanging in there!

Our belief in you remains unequivocal.

My favorite pic of the BECA "Pioneers." (2013) From Left: Al, Ellie, Kel, Heissy, Manny and Ollie.