Transcend Services The partners will establish a commercial call centre to provide services to international customers in the Arab Gulf Region, North America and Europe. The centre will be equipped for 56 employees. The competitive advantages are that Palestinian employees are high educated and have a clear Arabic and English accent. This makes them suitable for Bilingual (Arabic/English) voice services. The partners will start with simple outbound services and later on move into high end service.Applicant Marketing Strategy and Action Ltd from the United Kingdom, is a strategic marketing consultancy. The local partner (an entrepreneur) and the third partner (an expert in the call centre industry) are both from the Palestinian Territories. The local partner will be director and responsible for the daily operations. The applicant will be marketing director and responsible for marketing strategy and sales. The third partner will be sales director and responsible for direct sales and on-line promotion.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)The partners will recognise and endorse the practice of operating in an ethical, socially and environmentally responsible manner in line with the ten principles of the UN Global Compact. The partners want to set an example of good governance and financial transparency through adopting best international practice and internal control systems. A comprehensive CSR policy will be established as part of the deliverables during the start-up phase of the company.Impact•	Employment and working conditions56 people will be employed by the end of this project. 43 employees will be basic-level agents. Others positions will be centre manager, operations manager, team leaders, quality assurance, HRM and ICT specialists. Basic-level staff will be paid USD 500 per month. This is slightly above industry minimum. All staff will get medical insurance and a 13th month bonus at the end of their service. A cafeteria will be contracted and subsidised to allow affordable meals during working hours.•	Innovation / Transfer of knowledgeThe partners will employ mostly fresh graduates. Skills in overall management of call centres, training, networking and marketing will be transferred to local employees. The employees will become professional telemarketing experts, providers of high quality customer service or IT technical experts. Employees can use these skills in other (future) jobs.•	Chain effectsIf this project succeeds, it can open doors for other call centres in the Palestinian Territories. The ability of Palestinian employees to speak clearly in both English and Arabic, will give clients in the Middle East the comfort of customised services to end users.•	EnvironmentThe project will have a neutral effect on the environment. The partners will use computers as the main service machines. Heating and cooling will be the only taxing action on the environment.•	Position of womenWomen will be especially targeted for employment and encouraged to apply at all levels. Highly qualified, unemployed mothers will be given priority. Some difficulty might be faced in recruiting women for the night shifts given the strict traditional culture within the Palestinian Territories. The partners will be meeting with the parents of prospective women staff to ask for special permission to allow their daughters to work at night. They will provide door to door transport for all night shift staff. To establish a call centre with an annual sales of at least 50,000 seat/hours.