Oprima-1

Oprima-1’s origin story is not unlike many other businesses; we were created to address a gap in the customer service industry for companies with a large Spanish-speaking customer base. Where our story is unique comes next. Instead of creating another company focused solely on generating revenue via a low-cost business model, Oprima-1 was created with a second goal – improving Chicago’s bilingual community economic self-sufficiency.

During the recession, Oprima-1’s parent nonprofit, PODER:, encountered unacceptable student retention numbers in its English literacy courses. Responding to this growing challenge, PODER’s founder and Executive Director, Daniel Loftus, imagined an innovative solution – Oprima-1. In 2012, Loftus opened Oprima-1 LLC, a business process outsourcer (BPO) call center & staffing solutions company designed to offer premium services to the growing number of companies in need of Spanish-language customer service solutions. At the same time, from day one, Oprima-1 was committed to concurrently developing the local workforce by reinvesting profits into PODER’s English literacy and job skills training programs.