Call center

Welcome to the forum
A few questions for you.
Have you been here before?
Do you have your residency?
Do you have your Tax Id number?

All will be needed to start a business here.

Bob k

never been there - just heard from friends
before starting the business, I'd prefer to know if i have the most important part that can make my business work: people and skills. these are the two key factors in my decision of coming to DR

Then you are probably basing  your success and ability to start a business on the wrong things. Life is very very very different here. And there are lots of call centers here already.

BObK

do you mean that I can't probably find good Castilian Spanish speakers in DR?
Tell me please what do you mean by "life is very very very different here".

I'd appreciate to receive some suggestions in what should i be aware and consider carefully before coming there.

P.S. the fact that there are lots of call centers there, is not a problem.

Finding Castilian Spanish speakers willing to work for low wages here may be hard as most Dominicans speak the local "lazy"  Spanish.

Life here is different in that it is a developing country so the infrastructure is lacking in many areas (water, electricity, roads, laws and on and on).

You will need your residency, cedula, and RCN number to operate a business here and they can be time consuming and expensive to get.

You need to come and spend some time here BEFORE you spend any money here.

Bob K

speaking about wages, can you give some figures (what is a low, average and high wage in call center) so I can better understand?
can you suggest some reliable online sources I can check in order to have an idea about accounting procedures and labor law?
I really appreciate your suggestions.
thank you

Welcome to the forums.  First you wont find many excellent spanish speakers. We speak Dominican here!  Can they speak properly? Sure. But not spanish like from Spain!  ANd those who can will cost more.

Wages will run from about  120RD an hour and UP!  The best make over 30,000RD a month  some as high as 50,000RD a month depending on the campaigns and commissions. 

I hope that helps.

all these answers are helping a lot to have a more realistic pictures on DR, so please if you have some other info you think is relevant for me to know before planning to visit there, please let me know...
I'm looking also for some info about accounting procedures and labor law.. do you know some some reliable online sources?
thank you

Labor law is very complicated. YOu will need a lawyer for that.

Labor code and payroll deductions add about 35% to your labor costs.

good to know these figures
thnx a lot

You are welcome

Do not try this on your own with out a good reputable local lawyer

Bob K

Reality impinges on dreams & goals.  some people succeed  despite the reality.

Spanish speakers candidates with Spanish accent to fill positions in a call center can only be found in Spain.

Also my recommendations are to contact the closest Dominican consulate in your city. Also you can visit the Mirex website with lot of helpful information: http://www.mirex.gob.do/

A good level of Spanish knowledge is advised for starting a business in D.R. btw.

So, why would she contact the  Dominican consulate????   Just curious.....  I've never heard them to be overly helpful.

Hi again
I've been absent for a while, but I still want to try to understand better the potential.
A good local lawyer is perfect... I'm ready to start contact them... do you have any contact, suggestions??
I heard that everyone there (lawyer or accountant) gives you different information... it is difficult work like this, yes??? specially when you need to run a business.. - what is your input? are these rumors true?
every input from your experience is appreciated
thnx

do you have any experience (personally or not) being helped from the embassy? how do they do?
thnx for your suggestions

you are right gypsy401 !
I know how to overcome difficulty in foreign countries, but for sure I don't want to be a Don Quixote...

Hello Sara

I had a good experience in one of their consulate, they were very attentive and printed some forms and a FAQ document for me at the time (a couple of month ago)

They may have some sort of information related as to what Ministry office you should contact to start requesting the right permits for opening a business in the Island.

Can you send to me some contacts of some good lawyers? At this point I think I'm ready to do start have my contacts in DR.
thnx in advance

Good lawyer  Wilson Rood [email protected]

No,  most lawyers will not give you good information. MOST are interested in lining their own pockets and will tell you what they THINK you want to hear.

Doing business here is tough, time consuming and challenging. It can be worth it though.

You might also want to contact Guzman and associates.  They are the largest and most reputable firm in the country. In fact they help write some of the laws here.  The are going to be more expensive but in this case you get what you pay for. And like Wilson Rood you don't have to worry about being "taken"
www.drlawyar.com

Bob K

great.. thnx a lot planner & Bob K

You are welcome....Good luck

Bob K

hi to all,
can you give some info on renting prices?
I could find different info about living and apartments, but I couldn't find about renting for business issues...
if i want to rent an office of 300-500 m2 in Santo Domingo, how much does it cost?
what is the difference if it is center or not?
what if it is in a Tax Free Zone area? - I hear a lot about it...

thank you in advance

Tax free zones require special status special licenses which are expensive. 

Rental space is all over the place. It can go from  several hundred to several thousand dollars depending where you are.

You really have to be here and start looking OR hire someone to do it for you and get you pricing.

exactly. ..to the OP: do you know that Spanish from South America is usually A LITTLE different than this from Spain ? for example: here nobody use "vosotros" form. there is also difference in accents and so on..in each country in South America...
and now we have a Spain: do you know that pure Castellano is not always spoken there ? do you know that people in Andalucia speak a little different Spanish than those from Madrid..do you know that in Spain they also speak galician, valencian and catalan ?
Having all that in mind...I may tell you: Person from Spain will have no problems communicating with the person from Dominican Republic, IF the Dominican wont be too lazy to start speaking his local slang. So unless you want to address your calls to some "noble/aristocratic Spanish people" with luxury shopping offers, and if you want to open just some tech support center.. Well, it may be OK.
But remember also the other thing: Doing business in DR is even more complicated than in Spain...so...
the best would be for you to come here and try it out and get a better picture ;-) If I would be you, I would consider Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Colombia or Ecuador.

drtuttle wrote:

Spanish speakers candidates with Spanish accent to fill positions in a call center can only be found in Spain.

Also my recommendations are to contact the closest Dominican consulate in your city. Also you can visit the Mirex website with lot of helpful information: http://www.mirex.gob.do/

A good level of Spanish knowledge is advised for starting a business in D.R. btw.

Good post Dominicanfun!!!!

thank you to everyone giving advises and suggestions... really helping me

can you also give to me some ideas of good areas in Santa Domingo where to start up a call center? how is the traffic in the morning? is it well organised or you can't really relay on public transportation?

hahahah. "how is the traffic in the morning" " is it well organised"
girl...just come here, take a look, and you will ask no more questions like that.
it's not UK and Europe

Sara Europe wrote:

thank you to everyone giving advises and suggestions... really helping me

can you also give to me some ideas of good areas in Santa Domingo where to start up a call center? how is the traffic in the morning? is it well organised or you can't really relay on public transportation?

hey... are you making fun of me?? 

whenever ... clear enough

nah, not really. your questions seemed just a little funny when I looked through the window....especially "well organised".
oh sorry that i didnt post earlier, but we had 3 hours power outage, and still wonder why , because in Las Terrenas electricity costs almost 50 euro cents for 1 kwh :-D is it like almost 3 times more than in Spain ? :-D

Sara Europe wrote:

hey... are you making fun of me?? 

whenever ... clear enough

Sara  traffic in SD is a nightmare - seriously horrible.  And lordy if it rains it is even worse................

good to know this... it means I need to focus in a place easy reachable and not far away from the center...
Any suggested area?

Wow instead of all of these questions why not come down and visit for a couple of weeks and check it out first hand.

Driving in SD....you could not pay me enough.

Bob K

for sure I will... in 1 month or 2...
the truth is that this blog is being great help and very realistic ... so why not to benefit?
also I don't like bad surprises and when I move I want to do it having highlights... so for instance, if I have some suggested area, I can get in contact with real estate ...

Every other suggestion I should consider before I come and while I'm there is more than welcome

Thnx to everyone

Sara -  we can suggest  50 areas and it will do you no good.   You can contact a real estate agent and it will do you no good. It won't work that way.

You need to come here,  drive around with someone you can trust.  Check out areas, look for  "lease" signs etc.  Once you get a sense of areas, then you can move forward.  HERE realtors really do not represent you they represent who is leasing or selling.  They have their  book of clients and will not likely show you anything they don't "have".   

You will need a good lawyer to help you as well. I can recommend Wilson Rood [email protected]  he is in Santo Domingo and speaks English and Spanish fluently.  All my  business needs and residencia work goes through him.