PEOPLE • What is the current population? 9,507,133 (July 2008 est.) • What are the age groups represented in the DR? 0-14 years: 31.8% (male 1,537,981/female 1,482,546) 15-64 years: 62.4% (male 3,029,349/female 2,905,471) 65 years and over: 5.8% (male 255,898/female 295,888) (2008 est.) • What is the population growth rate? 1.495% (2008 est.) • Where can I find the best agents? The Dominican Republic has now assumed first place in the region with its increase of call centers by 45 percent. At present, the country has approximately 25,000 agents working in call centers, compared to others in the region, which have lost their positions as leading contact center hubs. The Dominican Republic is aggressively marketing itself and expanding its office capacity. What is the Society for Human Resource Management? The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world's largest professional association devoted to human resource management. Our mission is to serve the needs of HR professionals by providing the most current and comprehensive resources, and to advance the profession by promoting HRO's essential, strategic role. Founded in 1948, SHRM represents more than 225,000 individual members in over 125 countries, and has a network of more than 575 affiliated chapters in the United States , as well as offices in China and India . Learn more http://www.shrm.org   CONTACT CENTER CAREERS • How do I get a job in the contact center industry? CCI provides a two-week certification course that will provide you with the necessary skills to succeed in the contact center industry. Upon successful completion you will receive an internationally recognized certification to work in the industry. To learn more click here (this should link to the email: info@ccidr.com)   INVESTMENT IN THE DR • How much support do I really get from the Dominican government? There are many benefits of doing business in the DR, a main benefit is the support from the government through their initiatives to promote the Contact Center industry. Millions of dollars have been invested to educate the population, provide free English immersion learning programs, DR-Cafta agreement that has changed laws creating positive results for the sector, the creation of Free Zones, and also international political changes that makes the DR the best place to invest for BPOs. Our government is committed to growing our share of contact center and BPO membership. We continue to view this industry as vital to increasing jobs and improving the overall quality of life for Dominicans. CCI not only provides a strategic advantage to our country it is a critical element to us achieving our goals, commented Eddy Martinez, Secretary of State. • Are there special incentives for investments? Yes, special legislation and tax benefits that are dedicated to providing special incentives for foreign investment. Our legal framework awards the foreign investor an equal treatment to the one that is granted to the national investor. Consequently, there exist special rates that favor certain types of investment. • What is the attitude of the government in respect to private and public businesses (local and foreign)? The Dominican government welcomes private and public investment, whether it be local or foreign. The state has been working to provide more opportunities to private companies to guarantee a free market and to eliminate monopolies.   • Are foreign investors treated the same as nationals? No. Article 7 of law 16-95 establishes the principle of business to be in favor of foreign investors. Is the DR really the best place for my contact center? Aware that Hispanic customers would prefer the option to be given customer service in Spanish, many companies are scrambling to grow their Spanish-speaking agent base. The Dominican Republic is in a prime position for providing outsourced customer services. In the next seven years, call centers in Dominican Republic are expected to generate some 250,000 jobs in the services sector alone, said Investment and Export Center (CEI-RD) director Eddy Martinez, citing a study by the U.S.-based company Hewitt.   INFRASTRUCTURE • What is a NAP? National Access Point for the region. CODETEL, the principal telecommunications company in the Dominican Republic , and CAIS Internet, a division of CGX Communication, collaborated construct the first Internet network access point (NAP) to serve the growing needs of Internet customers in the Caribbean and Central and South America . Network access points, or Internet network traffic exchange facilities, connect national and regional Internet service providers to each other over high-speed links. • What does the telecommunications infrastructure look like in the DR? Land-line Telephones in use: 907,000 (2007) Cellular Telephones in use: 5.513 million (2007) Internet hosts: 81,218 (2007) Internet Users: 1.677 million (2007)   ENGLISH SPEAKERS • What is the population of English Speakers in the Dominican Republic ? 20% of the population speak English in the DR. This number is growing due to the many English institutes in the Dominican Republic and government programs such as, English Immersion through SEESCYT and the Santiago Massive Retraining program (SMART) program in Santiago launched by the CEI-RD.   EDUCATION • How many universities are in the Dominican Republic ? There are 34 world-class universities in the DR, a number of which offer technical courses. One of the • What is ITLA? The Institute of Technology for the Americas (ITLA) is a ISO 9001:2000 certified technical institution of top education, specializing in the training technology professionals and English as the second language; in areas of high technology and under a model of a "technical college". ITLA's areas of specialization are the Information Technology (IT), Multimedia, Megatronics and Software, as well as the School of Languages ITLA .   ENERGY • What are the DR's available sources for energy? In the Dominican Repubic the power infrastructure operates under a mixed government and private sector system. Two international companies, Unión Fenosa of Spain and AES of the United States have been entrusted with the distribution of power. Private generators are responsible for about 50% of the power generated. The government retains the control over hydroelectric generating plants and the transmission lines. The government is studying the implementation of optic fiber transmission lines. York Caribbean Windpower, a subsidiary of York Reserarch Corporation, is building a windmill park in Puerto Plata to generate 115,000 kilowatts/hour at a cost of US$160 million. The project will be in operation by mid 2002. The company has contracted to sell power to CDE at US$0.057 kilowatt/hour, highly competitive by international market standards.   ECONOMY • What is the economy like in the DR? The Central Bank third quarter report on the economic performance from January to September indicates the economy grew 1.8% during that period. Third quarter growth alone was 5.5%, offsetting the slow start to the year. The most dynamic sectors were communications (22.7%), electricity and water (21.1%), government (7.7%), farming (4%), and finances (2.8%). The hotel industry declined 0.2%, construction was down 1.2%, transportation 2.2%, manufacturing 2.3, commerce 3.5% and mining 3.5%. For more information, see Central Bank quarterly report     Top     FEATURED SERVICES   Agent Skills Training. 2 weeks (80 hours) of enhanced customer service and sales skills training.