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

Thu Jun 4 12:12:09 EAT 2009

Thumbs up Peres! I support your point because even if we put together the
best Outsourcing Frameworks (Legal, Regulatory, QA.) in the world, our 'bad
reputation' (alongside most other African countries) will obscure the
frameworks.  We need an effective public relations entity that can help
counter the perception and market Kenya's uniqueness (?).  Northern Ireland
did it!  Egypt is doing it!  Our EAC partner, Rwanda is also doing it.  In
simple words, as the bad stories (how corrupt(?) our  Government officials
are, Mungiki massacre,.) trickle to the international limelight, can we also
'flood' the FACTS ( news of how educated Kenyans are, good/affordable
hotels, the upcoming undersea cable,...) about Kenya . Am sure right now the
fact that Delta Airlines did not land here as expected, a few potential
outsourcing clients have developed cold feet; the wrong (Kenya is insecure!)
message is out there.  Some may actually not know that there are 10s of
flights leaving/coming to Kenya to/from most destinations of the world!  We
for sure know that Kenya is a good country and that is why many people from
other countries choose to settle here after experiencing this goodness even
for a short period. 

The question is, just who will tell the world the good side about Kenya?
Our media perhaps can help.  I was thrilled to see the Nation Newspaper
headlines amongst those being reviewed on SKY-News; I wished the headline on
that day (it was; 'Ministers' Joyride for 5-minute UN speech'!) was
different though.  Our missions abroad (embassies and high commissions) can
also help.  South Africa and Philippines are utilizing the latter
effectively. For example, you can more easily lose your life to armed
criminals in the streets of Johannesburg than in Nairobi but investors have
been convinced (through focused publicity) to outsource there
(Johannesburg).

Cheers,
Muthoni Masinde  

-----Original Message-----
From: kictanet-bounces+muthoni=uonbi.ac.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+muthoni=uonbi.ac.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf
Of Peres Were
Sent: 04 June 2009 11:06
To: muthoni at uonbi.ac.ke
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 2 of 10:-BPO discussions,Legal and Regulatory
Frameworks

External perception is absolutely critical in the race to obtain  
international BPO contracts. No one wants to outsource to a country  
which they 'percieve' as unstable, or which they percieve as  
underdeveloped. The truth is that most executives in our source  
markets for BPO work, in particular USA, percieve Africa as one  
country with a myriad of ills:

Somalia -Pirates
Congo - Wars
Darfur- kicking out the Aid organizations, starvation
Kenya ? Post Elections Violence
Nigeria ? 419 Scams
Zimbabwe ? Cholera and Inflation
Etc., etc.

The best way to counter these perceptions is to have in-coming trade  
delegations from our source markets, so they can see for themselves  
what Kenya has to offer.

W need to work on changing these negative perceptions of Kenya/Africa,  
BUT at the same time build up our internal capacity. We cannot do one  
without the other. Local outsourcing market needs to be developed in  
tandem with the international.

Peres

Quoting Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack at gmail.com>:

> Colleagues your comments are right, however we seemed to be more inclined
at
> external perceptions as opposed to building up internal capacity, must it
> take foreigners to show us our potential?
>
> On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 9:01 AM, munyiva ngea <munyivangea at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
>> Good morning,
>>
>> I agree with Peter about perception take Mauritius for example the
>> Board of Investment and the BPO Vendors strive to change the
>> perception of the country as a mere tourist attraction to an ICT Hub.
>> They invite prospective investors or clients to the country take them
>> to their lavish well equipped offices, which are probably located in
>> Ebene Cyber City the landing point of the Submarine cable so the
>> clients are assured of available internet infrastructure.After the
>> site visit the clients are then whisked away to have a fantastic
>> weekend on the beaches or on a boat. Simply put they show clients they
>> can do much more than provide BPO services they can offer quality of
>> life.
>>
>> To answer Question 3 i think without the government and local vendors
>> taking decisive steps to attract and retain investors and clients to
>> the country. Basically we need to give officials who are marketing the
>> country the funds to be able to invite the prospective investors and
>> clients to the country to show them we sufficient infrastructure and
>> Human resources.
>>
>> In order to build confidence in the country's capabilities we have to
>> have to EVIDENCE of these capabilities take India for example with its
>> National Skills Registry which is an industry initiative to ensure
>> that individuals employed by organizations have their background and
>> antecedents verified
>> (http://news.indiamart.com/news-analysis/national-skills-regi-13182.html)
>> prospective clients need only to browse through the site to be assured
>> that the country has the Human resource capacity needed. What about
>> Kenya apart from various websites which allow individuals to upload
>> their CVs where can a prospective client get information on the
>> available agents, software developers and so on?? this information is
>> not available on various institutional websites (universities,
>> colleges) so how do we expect a client to actually believe that we are
>> capable if we are unable to show it (Perception again!!)
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Best regards
>> Munyiva Ngea
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kictanet mailing list
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>>
>> This message was sent to: otieno.barrack at gmail.com
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
>>
http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/otieno.barrack%40gmail.
com
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Barrack O. Otieno
> ISSEN CONSULTING
> Tel:
> +254721325277
> +254733206359
> http://projectdiscovery.or.ke
> To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility
> as a free man.
> Alan Paton, South Africa
>

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

This message was sent to: muthoni at uonbi.ac.ke
Unsubscribe or change your options at
http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/muthoni%40uonbi.ac.ke

-----------------------------------------
This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by
MailScanner,
and is believed to be clean.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI IS ISO CERTIFIED

The University of Nairobi is committed to providing quality services to all
its clients. The University will monitor and review its quality performance
from time to time through an effective implementation of the Quality
Management System based on ISO 9001:2000 standard.

University of Nairobi Website: http://www.uonbi.ac.ke/
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

-----------------------------------------
This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner,
and is believed to be clean.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI IS ISO CERTIFIED

The University of Nairobi is committed to providing quality services to all
its clients. The University will monitor and review its quality performance
from time to time through an effective implementation of the Quality
Management System based on ISO 9001:2000 standard.

University of Nairobi Website: http://www.uonbi.ac.ke/
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20090604/56313331/attachment.htm>