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

Fri Jun 5 15:44:59 EAT 2009

How well do we win the confidence of a local investor if the cost of
doing business in Kenya is well beyond the reach of many wananchi?
Take for instance registering a company. The process is rather
cumbersome and tiring! Then take a look at our diplomatic missions
abroad. How many of them use a .ke domain?  How many can you point out
using secure internet over free email addresses? For confidence to be
built, the state should be confident enough with itself!

On 05/06/2009, Jotham Kilimo Mwale <jokilimo at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Gilda,
>
> You are right when you say we must develop both domestic and international
> markets in tandem. But I think there is something to lose when the focus is
> too much on international market. We lose the opportunity to develop the
> domestic market, which, in my view, is one of the basic building block for
> the BPO sector in terms of capacity building/ experience which in turn will
> give confidence to the international market.
>
> When we talk of bad publicity for this country hampering the
> growth/attractiveness of the international BPO market, I believe a vibrant
> domestic BPO market will counter that (bad image) in a more convincing
> manner than asking the media to tone down on divisive politics, and will
> make the work easier for our international marketers.
>
> Also, I think that the move taken by some local companies to have their own
> in-house call/contact centres rather than outsource is a statement of 'no
> confidence' on the BPO operators. It has just made marketing Kenya as a BPO
> destination a little more difficult.
>
> Regards,
> Jotham
>
> --- On Thu, 6/4/09, godera at skyweb.co.ke <godera at skyweb.co.ke> wrote:
>
>
> From: godera at skyweb.co.ke <godera at skyweb.co.ke>
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 2 of 10:-BPO discussions, Legal and Regulatory
> Frameworks
> To: jokilimo at yahoo.com
> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Date: Thursday, June 4, 2009, 4:59 AM
>
>
>
> Peres,
>
> I fully agree with your sentiments. I especially am of the very strong
> opinion
> (and I stand stoned by some) that we must develop both domestic and
> international markets in tandem. Much as there has been a school of thought
> that
> we focus on domestic first, I beg to differ. We need to do so in tandem with
> the
> international market. What have we to lose?
>
> Gilda
>
>>
>>
>> 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: godera at skyweb.co.ke
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/godera%40skyweb.co.ke
>>
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------
> This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> This message was sent to: jokilimo at yahoo.com
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jokilimo%40yahoo.com
>
>
>
>

-- 
Solomon Mburu
P.O. Box 19343 - 00202 Nairobi
Cell: (+254-0) 735 431041

Man is a gregarious animal and enjoys agreement as cows will graze all
the same way to the side of a hill!

AND

It is better to die in dignity than in the ignomity of ambiguous generosity!