For a couple of years now, Mr Anil David has been praying for a meaty government contract because it would be a ringing endorsement of his social enterprise Agape Connecting People – a contact centre founded by an ex-offender and which employs other ex-offenders, single mothers and people with disabilities.
COVID-19 made that dream come true.
In April this year, the company was given the big job of manning the National Care Hotline, set up by the Government to offer psychological aid and emotional support for those who need it during the COVID-19 crisis.
For the past six months, Agape staff members have been the “first level triage” for distressed callers, helping to calm them down before channelling their calls to the hotline’s trained professionals, including psychologists, counsellors and social workers.
It took a while before the 52-year-old – who was thrown behind bars on three occasions for fraud and criminal breach of trust – managed to prove and redeem himself.
The call centre he started with his wife in 2012 today employs nearly 150 staff. Half are serving time in prison and the rest are ex-offenders, senior citizens and other “disadvantaged people wanting a second chance in life”.
No longer just a call centre, the multi-channel contact centre also offers a full suite of services including call handling, e-mail marketing, Webchat interaction and social media management.
Besides an office in Tai Seng Avenue, Agape also runs a call centre in the women’s prison in Changi. With a grant from the DBS Foundation last year, it is also in the process of converting another call centre in the men’s prison into a training academy with four classrooms.
The outfit’s clarion call of “transforming lives and rebuilding families” has resonated with many corporations and its clients include insurance companies, telcos and government agencies.
“We have to be profitable to be sustainable, but, more importantly, it is about the number of lives we have impacted,” says Mr Anil, adding that Agape has turned around the lives of nearly 600 people.
Watch the video below to hear his story.
Read more here.
Source: The Straits Times, 11 October 2020