itel Acquires Emerge BPO, Expanding its Geographic Footprint Into South & Central America

Jamaica-based customer experience (CX) provider itel today announced its acquisition of Georgetown, Guyana-based Emerge BPO. The acquisition adds 700 new staff members from Guyana, Honduras and a work-at-home network in the US to itel, who says the acquisition seeks to further broaden the company’s geographic footprint that already includes locations across the Caribbean, Latin America, and North America.

Yoni Epstein is the founder and CEO of itel

Located in a seven-story building in Guyana’s capital of Georgetown, the new operations will offer itel additional physical space to grow and scale. It has the immediate capacity to hold 1,500 additional staff with potential for further build-out, and the facility’s urban setting gives access to a young, educated labor pool among the city’s population of over 200,000 inhabitants.

Emerge BPO’s recent expansion into Honduras takes advantage of the Central American country’s bilingual talent pool that is culturally aligned and in close proximity to the North American market. itel’s new Honduras operations are located in Altia Smart City, which offers advanced technologies and purpose-designed buildings with the most sophisticated amenities and safety protocols found in the northern isthmus.

“This acquisition takes us into two more geos that we’ve had on our radar for a few years now. It also further entrenches our geo-diversity in the region and offers our clients many diverse options nearshore, including on-premise to work-at-home to your ‘Office Anywhere.’ We’re happy to welcome the Emerge family into ours as we look forward to all the successes to come,” said Yoni Epstein, itel’s founder & CEO.

The acquisition also brings a portfolio of top tier clients representing some of North America’s biggest brands to itel. The new sites are at the center for retail and financial services and offer solid business infrastructure, top-tier educational institutions and modern transportation systems that are expected to boost itel’s recruitment and employee performance capabilities in the region.

Emerge’s senior will remain onboard as itel moves to absorb Guyana’s operations. “Over the first 90-days we will focus on ensuring the new operations and facilities are enhanced to reflect ‘the itel way.’ We will be investing heavily in training and development of its people and systems, as well as upgrades to their sites and IT infrastructure,” explained Epstein about the planned integration.

Emerge was established by Adrian Collins and Carole Fletcher in Guyana over a decade ago, serving a portfolio of clients from travel & tourism to financial services. The company grew organically over the years through its existing, stable client base.