[kictanet] Day 2 of 10:-BPO discussions, Legal and Regulatory Frameworks

[Walubengo J]

Morning all,

Yesterday was like my 1st day in school - what a rich learning experience! Thanx to Waema, Nyaki, Barrack, Otuoma, and MM whose contributions were quite enlightening. Of the two questions asked, it appears that we need both comprehensive ICT and BPO Policies and Strategies.  With regard to National BPO strategies and targets we learnt that there was quite some detail at the Ministry of Planning and the BPO Society which could benefit members if made widely accessible.

Today we move from the Policy to the Legal, Regulatory Frameworks. The Research study found very comprehensive Legal and Regulatory environment in S.Africa, India and Mauritius that supported their BPO industry.  Specifically, laws that took care of eTransactions, eCrime, Copyrights and Data Protection were well established. Furthermore their BPO Industries had adopted stringent Quality Assurance Frameworks for BPO and Contact Center Operations.  

The Researchers found that the case for Kenya was relatively comparable - with the recently enacted KCA Act (2009) that deals with eCrime & eTransactions leading the way, others like the Copyright Act (2001) as well as the Freedom of Information Bill cuurently at an advanced stage providing an encouraging Legal/Regulatory environment. 

Which brings us to the following two questions:

Q3: With submarine cables landing next week and given the above legal/regulatory frameworks, how comes Kenya is NOT experiencing the anticipated boom in the BPO sector? What should we do to get local and foreign investors to show more confidence in the BPO industry?

Q4: Could there be gaps in our Legal, Regulatory and Institutional frameworks that need to be addresssed?

Put in black and white- Why hasn't Safaricom, Orange, Zain and several local Banks who have all opened their own very large Call-Centers NOT shown confidence in the BPO sector by outsourcing their operations to local BPO operators?  What of the Government itself? Why cant it outsource non-core functions to the local BPO operators before trying attract foreign investors to do the same?

The floor is open, we have only today to get comments/answers to these issues.

walu.