In all, Manuel worked in India for five years. She had first joined UTV Toons in 1998.

On her stint in India, Manuel says, “I am so glad I got an opportunity to work here. The animation industry had just started when I came here and it has grown rapidly. The international companies now definitely consider India as an option for outsourcing and co-production work.”

She feels that Indian studios need to train more artists. “Apart from training, the other critical issue is under cutting of rates by other competitors in India. Studios here will still depend on international clients. It is still early for Indian content to breakthrough in the international market and it may only happen after two to three more years,” says Manuel.

Manuel, the only foreigner in Escotoonz, was instrumental in getting the studio is first international project 'King', a co-production with Canada’s Funbag Animation Studios and Decode Entertainment, which was aired on Family Channel in August this year.

In fact, Manuel’s decision to leave Escotoonz follows the series of new projects, which studio is currently working on. “Escotoonz has been allotted the animation production for the continuation of King’s first series, which will be a 26-episode, 23-minute series (first one was 13-episode 22-minute series). The work is expected to get over by expect to finish it by July, 2004.”

The second project, under production, is a 36-episode series called 'Cyber Dodo', being done in partnership with UK’s Sparkus Animations. The two studios are co-producers of this series with CyberDodo Productions.

In her new role, Manuel will oversee the entire operations, including production, training and marketing. POV, which is a division of Asia’s leading independent distributor Vision New Media (operating as a joint venture with the Multimedia University in Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor), offers services in high-end post-production, visual effects production and motion capture.