[kictanet] Marketing Kenya as a BPO Destination (withinandwithout the country)

Thu Jun 26 10:54:36 EAT 2008

Peres and Wambui,

I would like to echo your views. For Kenya to become a recognised BPO Outsourcing destination, the Kenya government will definitely have to put in place much bigger and effective budgets to realise this objective.
I recall having a long meeting with the Chair of the then SACCOM (now BPeSA) three years ago just to get an understanding of how South Africa was placing itself strategically. I must admit we are a far cry from there in terms of budget allocation for marketing, training and consultancy. At the time, South Africa had allocated 4Billion Rand towards making it a leading outsourcing destination in Africa within a period of 5 years. I Billion Rand went towards marketing South Africa itself, the other 2B Rand went to to developing pools of personnel and project consultancy to learn from those countries who were successful in the Outsourcing Industry.
I am not saying Kenya has such budgets but I am opening our eyes to the sort of competition we are facing. We have much more to offer than South Africa as we all know but who out there knows about this?

The Kenya BPO and Contact Society, the private sector wing of this industry is still young and unfortunately not well equipped financially. We have however, in our own small strides, tried sensitising external markets of our existence. What we are doing now is partnering with other international organisations to help fund some of our capacity building and marketing activities. We appreciate that government alone cannot achieve this. We however continue to impress upon government that in the next budget, given that this one has already passed, there must be provisions for serious marketing of this Industry if it is to be one of the key pillars of 2030 Vision. My personal view is that a good part of the 900million for the business park should have been put to marketing Kenya so that as the fibre optic able comes in, the demand is also created. Private sector can always develop business parks, I am not sure why government wants to get into developing parks. This needs to be left to private sector. Government can give incentives such as land allocations to such developers and there are many out there planning to do this.

The Kenya BPO and Contact Centre Society would want to support its members to have strong, profitable businesses. We are especially keen on seeing how government can support indigenous BPOs. As much as it is important that we have FDI and that foreign BPOs should also set shop in Kenya, for employment creation and knowledge transfer, we want to encourage a situation where the indigenous local companies are given some incentives and supported in various ways, rather than see them close shop when they cannot afford the high cost of bandwidth which is still prevailing.
It is these operators who would invest their money back in Kenya and remain operating in Kenya when foreign owned BPOs find new and more appealing destinations years down the road.
We know there are about 20 such BPOs who have taken the risk in investing their money in establishing their operations and they are the ones who have enabled us to go out there saying Kenya is now an outsourcing destination. What incentives are there and where is the support in terms of driving in work to these companies to keep them flying the flag high?  
This can only happen with adequate marketing budgets, taking these operatives out for one to one meetings with outsourcers in North America and Europe so they can come back with signed contracts, assuming the bandwidth subsidy takes effect concurrently so as to service the contracts. If not this, can the ICT Board which falls under the Ministry of Information and Communication, under which this Industry falls, negotiate with other government ministries in the meantime to provide local work to these BPOs to keep them afloat. Government has sufficient work to outsource.
We at the Kenya BPO and Contact Center Society are ready to sit together with Government to make this work.

Gilda Odera
Chair, Kenya BPO and Contact Centre Society

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Peres Were 
  To: Gilda Odera 
  Cc: 'Policy Discussions' 
  Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 7:25 AM
  Subject: Re: [kictanet] Marketing Kenya as a BPO Destination (withinandwithout the country)

  Wambui

  I must admit that you have raised some pertinent issues. The feedback from many of our members at the BPO Society is that one of the reasons they find it very difficult to secure international contracts is because in the first place, there is not enough awareness 'out there' of Kenya as a BPO destination. Potential outsourcers are not aware of 'the Kenyan BPO Brand' and what are the values behind that brand. In the case of India, South Africa, Egypt, those countries have communicated their value proposition to their potential international markets. An outsourcer, or investor therefore knows what to expect in terms of quality, value, standards, human resources, data security policies, incentives etc when they want to do business with BPO's in those countries.

  I think the ICT Board will have to first concentrate efforts in building the 'Kenyan Brand' as a BPO destination, and raising awareness about the Brand and what value it represents. However, am not sure that the Board has the kind of budgets that the countries you have mentioned, have access to. Perhaps budgets are an issue? The ICT Board would be best placed to tell us more. And if budgets are inadequate, how can the government claim to be serious about BPO being one of the pillars of Vision 2030?

  Peres Were

  Kenya BPO & Contact Centre Society

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  From: kictanet-bounces+pwere=cascadegl.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+pwere=cascadegl.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Wambui Wakarema
  Sent: 25 June 2008 18:48
  To: pwere at cascadegl.com
  Cc: KICTAnet at yahoo.com; New Vision List; Policy Discussions
  Subject: Re: [kictanet] Marketing Kenya as a BPO Destination (within andwithout the country)

        When I look at the efforts that South Africa, Egypt, Mauritius and other emerging BPO destinations are putting to raise awareness about their countries as players in the BPO world, I am left wondering if the ICT Board is really aware of the challenge that they have in raising Kenya's profile?

         It will require a serious assault by Kenya, on the international market, together with a clear strategic plan, if we are to make any headway. Otherwise  Vision 2030 can as well forget about the BPO sector.

        The Board could learn a thing or two from these countries. In the first place has the Board conducted a competitor analysis of these countries that Kenya is competing with? This should be the first step.

        All of these countries invested heavily not just in marketing, but also by providing incentives to would-be investors in the sector. Is the ICT Board looking at developing incentives for BPO investors? How will Kenya compete favourably with other countries?

        What are the plans for the BPO park? It is likely to be an empty shell, at the rate at which operators are shutting down or suspending operations.

        Wambui Wakarema

        --- On Tue, 24/6/08, waudo siganga <emailsignet at mailcan..com> wrote:

          From: waudo siganga <emailsignet at mailcan.com>
          Subject: Re: [kictanet] Marketing Kenya as a BPO Destination (within and without the country)
          To: wambuiwakarema at yahoo.co.uk
          Cc: "New Vision List" <newvisionkenya at yahoogroups.com>, KICTAnet at yahoo.com, "Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
          Date: Tuesday, 24 June, 2008, 9:11 AM

          Shem and Titus, I agree with your observations. After attending some ICT Board events I gathered that BPO is indeed the focus for the Board, with other activities being 1. Advisory to the Govt 2. Capacity Building  and 3. Project Management. I have heard the Board explain that they are not really into "ICT" per se but rather, its application. I do not mind marketing being a focus here  (and I think they are doing a good job of it), but the gap to deal with "ICT" should abe addressed by the Government. The name "ICT Board" is somehow a misnomer that confuses some people. A better name would have been "ICT Marketing Board" or "ICT Promotion Board".

          Waudo, in Paris.

On Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:49:38 -0700 (PDT), "Shem Ochuodho" <shemochuodho at yahoo.com> said:Titus,

                  You raise a pertinent question. In the V-2030, the pillar is 'BPO', and not 'ICT'. And listening to Government officials, the focus seems to be on the former, and not the latter. And am left wondering why. Perhaps this may help explain why 'marketing' is ICT Board's core activity. If BPO is all the Board is about - or its main focus, then of course 'marketing' is the core function.

                  Best rgrds,

                  Shem

                  --- On Mon, 6/23/08, Titus Mburu <titonjoroge at gmail..com> wrote:

                    From: Titus Mburu <titonjoroge at gmail.com>
                    Subject: Re: [kictanet] Marketing Kenya as a BPO Destination (within and without the country)
                    To: "Shem Ochuodho" <shemochuodho at yahoo.com>
                    Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
                    Date: Monday, June 23, 2008, 10:26 AM

                    If I may, let me ask - what has been identified as one of the pillar in Vision 2030? Is it ICT or BPO?

                    One of the TV stations focused on the call center industry, during the launch of Vision 2030 and i got worried.

                    Regards,
                    Titus Njoroge.

People make a plan work, a plan alone seldom makes people work (Confucius)._______________________________________________kictanet mailing listkictanet at lists.kictanet.or.kehttp://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: wambuiwakarema at yahoo.co.ukUnsubscribe or change your options athttp://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/wambuiwakarema%40yahoo..co.uk 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Sent from Yahoo! Mail. 
  A Smarter Email.

  __________ NOD32 3211 (20080624) Information __________

  This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
  http://www.eset.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  _______________________________________________
  kictanet mailing list
  kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
  http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet

  This message was sent to: godera at skyweb.co.ke
  Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/godera%40skyweb.co.ke

  __________ NOD32 3211 (20080624) Information __________

  This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
  http://www.eset.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20080626/4150797c/attachment.htm>