[kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies

Fri Jun 5 20:44:41 EAT 2009

The current economic crisis is providing an opportunity to rethink our
way of doing business. The creative destruction that was mentioned
earlier could actually come from the government. 

What if the government gave those with proven BPO services the incentive
to spin-off and set up multiple centres across the country. Their
rewards could be a mixture of tax breaks and a two-year monopoly on
government contracts such as the one Bw. PS mentioned in the judiciary. 

The destructive part is that the government will have to let go some of
its employees whose jobs are outsourced. 

DBL

On Fri, 2009-06-05 at 20:29 +0300, godera at skyweb.co.ke wrote:
> Bill,
> 
> Your comments make great sense. There is however another school of thought that
> as the crunch gets worse, even those companies who saw no need to outsource are
> looking for more affordable means to survive. It is kind of a chicken and egg
> scenario. Then there are the big boys whose sales are down so they are scaling
> down across the board.
> 
> Gilda 
> Quoting Bill Kagai <billkagai at gmail.com>:
> 
> > Listers/Listeners,
> > 
> > I am just wondering aloud (virtually), if the stimulus packages we saw
> > go in to GM, AIG, Fannie and Freddie... in one way or another form
> > part of Govt incentive (during crisis)?? I ask this because I do not
> > know if BPOs in Kenya are making money presently. I also wonder if
> > they are employing significantly. Secondly, specifically in the matter
> > of BPO, can the 'experts' afford to look at this sector holding the
> > world economy constant?? I think we have not been hit by the global
> > financial crisis yet but I can tell you for free, its on its
> > way...full steam ahead. It will crush the property market and also
> > crush new businesses like BPO before they take off. Europeans and
> > Americans are broke...currently...and they cannot even afford visiting
> > Maasai Mara. Why should we rely on them giving us business in their
> > current state??
> > 
> > OK...Look at it this other way, since Safaricom launched M-Pesa and
> > started 'in-sourcing' money transfer services mid 2007, we can
> > hypothesize that there are at least 5,000 M-pesa agents with maybe 20
> > outlets on average each manned by at least 1 man or woman. In other
> > words, at least 100,000 jobs have been created indirectly by this one
> > act which is not even the core business of Safaricom. If all Banks in
> > Kenya had out-sourced money transfer services, would they have
> > employed such a humongous number???
> > This in my opinion is solid. Does not rely on opinion in Europe and
> > has branded itself without any Government incentives. If this was our
> > benchmark, then to hell with incentives and maybe embrace Business
> > Process In-sourcing..
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Luvisia Bakuli<luvisia.bakuli at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > <<Qtn6:  What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to
> > > BPO operators?  What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in
> > > foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?>>
> > >
> > > There is need for incentives to match the positive externalities the
> > > firms bring to the country and in the communities they are located. For
> > > example, incentives may be designed to attract certain technologies, job
> > > skills, or development of specific capabilities. For these areas, in
> > > addition to tax incentives, one may consider provision of resources such
> > > as land, buildings, water, energy, even bandwidth at a concession to
> > > attract businesses in economically distressed areas -- i.e. away from
> > > Nairobi.
> > >
> > > But there needs to be a clear stipulation of when a firm is deemed to
> > > graduate to the next level and start paying full fees. That should also
> > > signal for removal of non-compete clauses, i.e. allow competition in the
> > > sub-sector if any were imposed as an incentive.
> > >
> > > Bakuli
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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> 
> 
> 
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