n August 11^th, 2000, DirecOne, the Gillette-owned international telemarketing center began its operations with almost 700 employees placing sales calls to the United States.  DirecOne is the largest call centre in the Caribbean.

The operations were launched after a very extensive training program for both the management team and the telemarketers.  According to officials of DirecOne, management had been engaged in training for approximately one month from May 19^th.  The telemarketing sales representatives began their training on June 12^th.  

As part of its vision to see the northwestern peninsula of Trinidad become the Silicon Valley of the Caribbean, the Gillette Group of companies has invested $35 million in this venture.  The new call center, which occupies 80,000 square feet of covered space at the Chaguaramas Convention Center, uses state-of-the-art technology to place international calls via a predictive dialer system.

Mr. Peter Gillette said, “We believe that this call center, as it expands, will create another Silicon Valley in the Caribbean.  A hub of knowledge-based industry and technology.  Our vision is larger than just putting in call centers; it actually speaks to being the first in a series of successes of IT related and knowledge-based industries. “Trinidad is an ideal location for two reasons,” explained Gillette.  “One is the large literate work force that we have with the prerequisite skills to work in a call center.  Secondly, through the advent of new technology, the ability to drive  our telecommunications costs down to be competitive.”

The center will operate with two shifts, with one shift running from 9:00am to 5:00pm and the other from 5:00pm to 12 midnight.  With a seating capacity of 288 per shift, the management of DirecOne is confident that they will be able to meet and exceed the expectations of their valued Clients across the Globe.