A Bradford College student has been pledged £150,000 by Microsoft towards digital infrastructure for his start-up.
Abdul Rahman Majid’s idea for ‘Kallabot’, developed when he moved to Bradford and experienced difficulties trying to communicate with utility companies regarding bill payments.
The app is described as an ‘AI-powered call-centre solution’ offering automated customer support, sales calls, and appointment scheduling using intelligent virtual agents. The AI agents are specially designed to suit various business industries, are programmed to handle hundreds of calls simultaneously, and can speak over 30 languages.
Abdul said: “I noticed that many businesses are outsourcing this sort of work by hiring entire call centres, so wanted to build a more affordable solution that could provide the same service.
“When I was calling companies, I would often wait on hold for considerable amounts of time and knew there could be a better alternative. Sales calls can be a tedious process and often very resource intensive for businesses, meaning less time to focus on other areas. This is what sparked the idea.”
With Kallabot formed and ready to launch to market, Abdul decided to apply for funding from Microsoft aimed at start-ups in the sector. Having been successful with the bid, the new company has been backed with funding of £150,000 to use on digital infrastructure such as servers and website domains.
“The call centre industry is a huge pie and I want to take a small piece of this to build something big. After Bradford College I want to go to university and make new friends and connections, while also hopefully seeing Kallabot flourish,”Abdul finished.
