Call Britannia, which is headed by Karen Darby, the founder of price comparison site Simply Switch, has secured a total of almost £1.3m in investment and funding to help it set up work training call centres in some of the UK's most deprived neighbourhoods. The deal was closed at the end of 2009, and already has resulted in the first of the planned call centres to be opened. The Bridges Social Entrepreneurs Fund has invested £500,000, Big Issue Invest has invested £350,000 and the management team of Call Britannia has itself invested £150,000. Darby has also secured £292,500 from the government's Future Jobs Fund to help it create 45 jobs in Croydon in the next six months. Call Brittania is serial entrepreneur and call centre expert Karen Darby's latest venture. She has worked with Bridges Ventures in the past when the venture capital company invested in her third company Simply Switch, which was sold to the media group Daily Mail and General Trust plc for £22m in 2006.  She sold her first call centre firm, The Decisions Group, for £800,000 in 1990. In March 2009 she was named as one of Britain’s 100 Most Entrepreneurial Women by Real Business magazine and Bank of Scotland.  About her entrepreneurial life she says:

"It seems to me the toughest thing about success is that you've got to keep on being a success."

The Company choose to be based in the UK’s most economically challenged areas and to exclusively target recruitment to disadvantaged unemployed and priority welfare recipients. The growing dissatisfaction with overseas Call Centres, coupled with the historical high levels of staff attrition signals that the Call Centre business model needs to change. Call Britannia intends to create 10,000 six-month jobs in 10 UK centres over the next seven years. These will act as a stepping stone to further employment with Call Britannia helping its employees to move into long-term jobs. The Call Britannia model is one of sustainable employment. All employees are given a minimum of six months employment. The Company acts as a talent incubator, equipping its staff with skills, qualifications and work based experience whilst providing a valuable service through paid employment. At the end of this ‘incubation period’ Call Brittania works with employees to place them in new roles with local employers.<