This week we feature Asnath Breseno; the Managing Director of Direct BPO- a business process outsourcing company.
She rose through the ranks at Mascom Wireless before being given the huge task to lead Direct BPO.
With her extensive experience in contact Centre Management, Breseno was tasked with setting up Direct BPO in 2017, a task which she seems to be undertaking very well as evidenced by new developments coming up at the company.
Kindly take us through your role as Managing Director at Direct BPO?
I’m responsible for the leadership and management of the company’s operations, people and functions in order to maintain and grow the business.
Briefly take us through your professional journey.
I am on secondment to Direct BPO from Mascom Wireless.
I have been with Mascom since 2003 starting in Human Resource responsible for training and development.
I was later given the responsibility of setting up the Quality Management department and leading Mascom to successful ISO 9001 and ISO14001 certification.
After this position I went on to head the customer management division as Chief Customer Management Officer.
This is the position I held until I was assigned to set up Direct BPO and assumed the position of Managing Director.
I have experience in contact centre management, training, quality management and customer management.
For someone who doesn’t know, what is Direct BPO and what does it do?
Direct BPO is a business process outsourcing company.
We have been in business since 2017 and are a 100% subsidiary of Mascom Wireless.
We specialize in delivering customer management services across the private and public sectors both locally and internationally.
We operate 24/7/365, leading successful businesses toward a premier customer experience.
Business in Botswana and outside the borders of this nation can outsource some functions that are not core to their business to companies like Direct BPO. Our areas of specialty include customer support (inbound and outbound customer care, digital customer care), telesales/telemarketing, contact centre training, contact centre consultancy, contact centre technology and other services.
Last week you launched a new service into the market, kindly shed some light on it?
Our new service is Direct Assist; this is a service for busy professionals. It is a service that individuals can benefit from as well, corporates as an employee benefit or as a benefit for their high value customers.
Through this service we extend a helping hand to busy professionals to help them with a variety of their daily tasks.
Services like home emergencies, personal shopper, errands, sourcing, event planning assistance are just one contact away; meaning, if you need a plumber call Direct Assist, you are stuck in a meeting and cannot pick up your child from school call Direct Assist, you want some errands run for you – call Direct Assist.
You want to buy something and need quotations – call Direct Assist.
We have partnered with local companies to offer these services and are looking forward to engaging with and possibly working with more local companies to bring more services to our members.
How has been the response to your Direct Assist service?
Direct Assist is a new service and we are going all out to market it; we believe in the service and believe that it will be well received in the market.
Are there any other services in the pipeline which Direct BPO is currently developing?
Yes, we continue to work on new services; currently working on one for Small Medium Enterprises (SMES), others for companies that have contact centres or want to setup contact centres and the last one is around digital customer care.
What are the biggest challenges to Direct BPO in delivering its mandate?
One of our biggest challenges is that the governing body that oversees the industry, Outsourced Botswana has been inactive for many years. It is now trying to find its feet to give direction and guidance to the industry and lobby the government for grants that will see Botswana compete favourably with countries like South Africa, Kenya and Egypt on the continent and India and Philippines for international contracts.
In your niche market there are other players, what sets Direct BPO apart from its competitors?
There are other players in the market. However what sets us apart from other players is the support we get from Mascom in terms of infrastructure, world class data centre and outbound call costs at preferential rates including advice on technology and other related things.
How is Direct BPO’s footprint in the market?
We are developing Direct BPO as a company to operate in the local and international market.
We have had enquiries and engagements with five international companies that want support for different services and some support in different languages.
We are working hard to meet some of their requirements so that we can be a global player.
Where do you want to see Direct BPO in the next 5 years?
I would like to see Direct BPO having offices outside Gaborone, having more than 500 seats from local companies and even more from international companies. I would like to see Direct BPO with international contracts supporting in languages such as French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Chinese to mention a few.
Any corporate social responsibility initiatives you are currently engaged on?
We recently sponsored a fully resourced seat to one of the government departments that oversees the welfare of people living with disabilities. We are working hard to get the support line up and running and our hope is to sponsor more than one seat as the business grows.
On a personal note, what keeps you busy when you are not at work?
I am a wife and mother of two. I am a farmer, a business woman and a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
