As you may know, back in 2009 Unosquare helped get a company called Siletz Technologies off the ground. Our work was successful. Today, ST is a new rural sourcing provider of software testing. This is not nearshore or offshore outsourcing... but rather onshore outsourcing. New jobs right here in the US. The company has about 10 new employees and they're all working from a small office on the Central Oregon Coast, in a little city called Lincoln City. Almost all the employees are young tribal members with new training and, if they succeed, a new career in software testing.
Unosquare initially conceived the idea of putting a rural software testing center in Lincoln City. We needed a local entity to lead the way. Eventually, we began working with Dave Tovey from the Siletz Tribal Business Corporation. Dave is a champion and deeply experienced in setting up and building new businesses, especially Native American centric companies. He was one of the principles behind Cayuse Technologies located in Eastern Oregon. That company has over 500 employees today.
There are other examples of rural sourcing to be sure. In this Business Week article, a few other companies are mentioned that are on the leading edge of this new trend.
We think there is a future in rural sourcing. So Unosquare is gearing up to do it all over again. We have the consulting expertise, business model, and fund raising expertise to help rural agencies setup and run a small technology company. We think the most likely fit is an ERP (SAP or Oracle) support center - providing level 1 and level 2 support for larger companies that are not inclined to send these jobs overseas.
More on this later.
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