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

Fri Jun 5 06:54:36 EAT 2009

I am in area with bad Internet access. I am therefore running late in
catching up with discussions but I am compelled to agree with Muthoni.
The latest kid in the block is Brand Kenya Board. This is a good
initiative. However, if the Government works in the same way it has
always worked (no evidence that anything has changed), we may still end
up with the plethora of bodies selling Kenya for different things (BPO,
ICT, tourism, FDI, etc.) communicating different messages, duplicating
each others roles, etc. and failing to do the most important thing -
building very positive perceptions about Kenya, consistently. 

As for the 4th estate, any efforts to convince them to de-emphasize
politics has fallen on deaf ears. Can we focus on the consumers of the
media outputs?

My few cents

tim

On Thu, 2009-06-04 at 12:12 +0300, muthoni masinde wrote:
> 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 t o 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/ 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
> 
> This message was sent to: waema at uonbi.ac.ke
> Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/waema%40uonbi.ac.ke