[kictanet] [Fwd: [Fibre-for-africa] Fibre optic delays cost 5000 jobs a month]

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Fibre optic delays cost 5000 jobs a month

By Steve Mbogo, Business Daily, March 20, 2007

Every month that passes without Kenya having a fibre optic cable link to
the rest of the world, the country loses an opportunity to create 5,000
jobs.

The figure, based on data collected by Business Daily interviews with
individuals involved in making Kenya a hub for Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO).

BPO involves hiring of vendors to handle business processes like customer
care, accounting, and content provision.

 In Kenya, call centres and publishing content provision are the main
focuses, but other examples of BPO include human resources, accounting
and payroll outsourcing.

Dave Stewart, general manager of KenCall, Kenya’s largest call-centre,
said while foreign investors are looking at Kenya as a good destination
for BPO, the lack of a fibre link is stifling some.

“This (fibre link) is a must if there is to be a serious investment in
this area,” said Stewart.

Currently established businesses, like KenCall, have no choice but to use
the expensive bandwidth through the satellite network.

Mr Stewart, whose call centre employs 300 people, spends $30,000 to
$70,000 (Sh2.1m to Sh4.9m) for the bandwidth.  BPO players estimated the
advent of the fibre-optic cable could reduce bandwidth costs by 60 per
cent. But cautioned that a single cable might not make a difference as it
will run like a monopoly.

Outsourcing operations have thrived in  developing countries like India
which have sufficient, and cheap enough bandwidth as well as educated
human resources and sound legal and financial infrastructure.

Educated work force

Industry players feel Kenya is well positioned to become a preferred BPO
hub, despite not measuring up on bandwidth. “Kenya’s competitiveness in
terms of human resources is very high,” said Mr Stewart. “Kenya, like
India, has a very highly educated work force. The accents here are very
popular with the Americans and the Europeans,” he added.

And unlike in the West where most see call centre careers as a stepping
stone to other opportunities, in Kenya being employed in a call centre is
regarded as a career.

“This is a potential for growth.” Mr Wallace Gichoho the chief executive
of Call Centre Africa Ltd and chairman of Kenya ICT Service Exporters
(KISE) said the type of employees that Call Centres look for are those
that may not make the universities cut off point but had fared well in the
key subject that would enable a company develop skill in them.

This forms a majority of the potential working force and has proved more
stable than graduate employees.  Mugure Kabugua’s BPO company, Preciss
offers a service called PrecissPatrol that prowls the Internet on behalf
of clients, and the company is planning a call centre.
She said the business environment for BPO is improving thanks to the
Government encouraging more investment.

She says the local industry is getting attention from international BPO
concerns. Estimates on how many jobs could be created vary. While Ms
Kabugua suggested “hundreds of thousands,” Waudo Siganga, the chairman of
the Computer Society of Kenya said a well-functioning BPO industry can
create an estimated 60,000 jobs every year, supported by more than 400
companies licensed to offer information communication technology training.

Meanwhile, Dr Wahome Gakuru, a coordinator for Government’s Vision 2030
development plan, said BPO could created “millions of jobs,” for young
professionals.

Whichever number is correct, the sector is getting attention from the
places of power.




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