[kictanet] Marketing Kenya as a BPO Destination

Fri Jun 20 20:07:05 EAT 2008

Wambui

Thank you for your email that raises an interesting discussion.

Firstly, please join the Board and the BPO society tomorrow during the
launch of the BPO standards and ethics guidelines at KICC and this issue can
be discussed in more detail. Our support of this event is a signal that this
is one of the most important building blocks of this industry. And, having
been developed by the private sector as a self regulation mechanism, the
standards send a very strong signal of industry seriousness as we market
BPO, both locally and internationally.

The country marketing plan is being finalised now and is informed by all the
input we have received throughout the year. we have had many forums and
visited very many local BPOs to understand their issues and believe me,
there are many issues. The absence of a formal plan does not in itself mean
planlessness. The board was also faced with the need to be quick and agile
in responding to marketing opportunities as they presented themselves. This
has been gradually replaced by the current draft strategic plan and now the
soon to be launched country marketing plan.

As an example, during last year's BPO conference at Safaripark, the board's
emphasis was on capacity building for the sector. Skills, knowledge on the
issues involved with outsourcing etc. Many of the participants came there to
understand what BPO was and to appreciate the business opportunity.  We as a
board realised that we were serving both prospective investors as well as
more established BPO players.. they have different needs.

If you attended some of the review forums we have held, you would have heard
first hand some of the experiences many BPO companies have been through.
High costs, failed contracts etc on one hand.. But on the other hand some
that have built long term plans in niche specialist areas are enjoying
steady business. This is not surprising.

The board has been very appreciative of the fact that many local investors
put in their money into BPO and have not made the returns they expected.
This is normal in any business segment. The board also anxious about the
time and processes it takes to release World bank money for the BPO subsidy

We need to turn this situation into an opportunity to ask serious questions
as the private sector and government.

   1. The subsidy will come soon, will it be enough to create
   competitiveness?
   2. Clients will bring in their work to local BPOs what state of readiness
   to deliver will they find?
   3. Should everyone be trying to go into call centres and transcriptions?
   What niche areas are there?
   4. Where are the best source markets for work?
   5. What partnerships should we create to enable local companies develop
   greater financial and marketing muscle?
   6. Government's role vs the role of the private sector?
   7. Why arent local large corporates who have call centre work or needs
   farming this work out? Is it just awareness? or they playing a wait and see
   atiitude?
   8. The country has certain strengths and certain weaknesses? how do we
   play these up and down respectively?
   9. And most importantly, what is the role of innovation in creating
   lasting value for our sector? Innovation can either be in processes, in
   delivery, in marketing  or in the actual service offering?  when an industry
   has contraints, look for the innovation.. as an example without the
   introduction of prepaid billing, there could never have been adoption of
   mobile technology in poorer countries on the scale that it is found around
   the world today. most of the developed world did not depend on the prepaid
   model and many find the idea that you can buy airtime in bits very novel
   even today..

The sector will take time to grow and in the process many will create value
and many will lose value.

As players in the sector with alot at stake, I propose we keep the debate at
the level where it attracts deeper thought and reduce an inclination towards
hype.

We meet very many potential BPO investors visting the board for advice based
on the perception of quick returns and we are always quick to offer caution.
Understand the market, play for the long haul, like any business.

No doubt, the board has a huge responsibility to guide this process, but
ultimately this is a business sector, like any other and once the macro
issues are resolved (undersea cable, greater marketing, incentives to
players, skills development), the issue will be a micro one.

As micheal porter said

"The capacity for wealth creation is rooted in the sophistication of the
operating practices and strategies of companies, as well as in the quality
of the microeconomic business environment in which a nation's companies
compete. More than 80 percent of the variation of GDP per capita across
countries is accounted for by microeconomic fundamentals. Unless
microeconomic capabilities improve, macroeconomic, political, legal, and
social reforms will not bear full fruit."
The Board has stepped up the capacity support, including guiding the media
on salient issues of reporting on this subject, in order to attract the
right questions and add value to would be investors.

when a company farms out some of it works to an outsourcing provider, it
does not do so to create jobs.  it does so to realise value, either greater
efficiency, cost savings, synergy.
for this debate to be sustainable, it must be framed in the following
context: 'I am company X providing the following competency Y based on the
following skills A B C D. I can add the following value that I have
established you need, both short and long term. '

The collective noise of many company Xs coupled with the ICT board saying
'Kenya can offer 1 2 3, (including the forthcoming technology park, I must
add), is what we say in our marketing.

This is a journey that must walk together. The Board is extremely committed.

Regards

On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 12:54 PM, Wambui Wakarema <
wambuiwakarema at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>
> Is the ICT Board aware that the BPO industry in Kenya is in crisis? Most of
> the BPO's and Call Centres have suspended operations due to the high cost of
> bandwidth. They are all waiting for the subsidy that never was. When is the
> subsidized bandwidh going to be released? There may be no BPO's to use it by
> the time it is released - if ever.
>
> Added to this is the struggle to get BPO work both locally and from
> overseas. Has the Board developed a strategy for marketing Kenya as an
> outsourcing destination? Am not talking about haphazard marketing activities
> and expos. What is the long term strategy? Can industry players have a look
> at this strategy or plan?
>
> Wambui Wakarema
>
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-- 
Paul Kukubo
Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board
PO Box 27150 - 00100
Nairobi, Kenya

CCK Offices Waiyaki Way

Tel direct: +254 20 2089062/251152
telkom Direct: +254 20 3518000
Fax: +254 20 315147
Cell: + 254 735 180001

website: www.ict.go.ke
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