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

Fri Jun 5 20:26:20 EAT 2009

Yesterday I was at KENIC.OR.KE and attempted to register a .ke domain.
The web site is a joke. They tell you to fill a form that does not
exist. 

Over the past several years I have been coming to Nairobi twice a year
and only this year was I able to successfully book a Nairobi hotel
online. The rest of the times I am told to fax my details to the
manager's secure fax number. I take it the hotels don't manage the
websites and they cannot trust those who are hosting websites for them. 

Once I arrived at the JK Airport went to pick up a car I had reserved
online only to be told the agent at the airport had not received my
booking and there was no car for me. The company operates two versions
of their websites: a .ke and .com; and it seems the two are not
synchronized. 

These may isolated cases but they do add up and create a bad impression
about doing business in Kenya. A lot of these shortcomings can be blamed
on our own ineptitude.

DBL 

On Fri, 2009-06-05 at 10:14 -0230, Solomon Mburu wrote:
> 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
> >> >>
> >> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> >> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
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> >> >>
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> >> >>
> >> 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
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
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> >
> >
> >
> >
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