[kictanet] [Fwd: Re: Day 5 of 10- BPO Discussions, HR Issues]

Mon Jun 8 18:00:16 EAT 2009

Excellent point!  I think we are making a huge mistake especially in light
of the post election violence focusing so heavily on the foreign investors
and the international BPO market.

I have been following this discussion and as a local BPO operator focused
on the domestic market I can tell you we have a difficult time convincing
local companies to outsource and while all this talk is good frankly I
think we are missing the point.  If the point is development, then why
aren't we focusing on how to develop this industry as quickly and
effectively as possible?  In my view the low hanging fruit are the
domestic opportunities but we need a lot more work in the form of
government incentives to operators AND businesses to promote and support
the nascent outsourcing industry.  Yes, I read the post on the judiciary
plans to outsource the transcription but I think there is plenty more work
that can be outsourced and if the government wasn't so focused on the
foreign investor and looked at the government as a consumer of outsourced
services and the local private sector we may make more progress.  My hope
is that we can focus on creating the environment that makes it conducive
to manage and operate domestic BPOs which will be building capacity while
we manage and frankly repair our much tarnished image abroad.  Just like a
company needs to look at reinvesting retained earnings before it seeks
outside financing, we need to look at what we can do locally before we
start tapping the international market, especially given the heightened
risk factors that Kenya faces since 2007/8.

This means:
1.  Government departments, agencies outsourcing work to local companies
and looking at outsourcing not as a way to shed jobs but as a means to
better manage scare resources.
2.  Tax breaks for local BPO operators and private companies contracting
outsourcing services locally to incentivize operator investment and
company adaption of services in this industry.  Tax breaks should be
immediate and not dependant on the entry or attraction of foreign
investors.  Those of us currently in operation are betting on Kenya. 
Instead of waiting we are putting our money to work believing in the
future of this country...I don't think we are asking for too much when we
ask the government to support our development.
3. Less focus on what we do not have and a greater focus on what we have.
Skills, entrepreneurs and an optimistic view of our country as well as a
domestic market and potential to tap into the larger regional market (EAC
& COMESA).

Finally, I am of the contrarian view: we have the skill set, but because
we are not willing to start where we are we are asking students and
graduates to pay more money to get additional certification before we can
get foreign investors interested in our country...Frankly I think we place
too much stock in certificates and paper qualifications.  If we ask these
graduates to take another training class with the promise of better
opportunity they will...instead I suggest we recognize the current
intellectual capital that we have and those of us in the industry focus on
the job training and going back to the role that government can play,
obtain tax credits for this on the job training.  Lets us make sure these
graduates have work and build on that instead of creating additional
hurdles to employment.

Subject:   Re: [kictanet] Day 5 of 10- BPO Discussions, HR Issues
From:   "S.Murigi Muraya" <murigi.muraya at gmail.com>
Date:   Mon, June 8, 2009 5:17 pm
To:   mkamuru at emanageafrica.com
Cc:   "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Priority:   Normal

> Let us also factor in on the job training to improve our skill sets.
> Software engineers become masters of their craft by doing projects and
> by exchanging (code and concepts) with their peers. A classroom setting
> possibly contributes to less than 10% of all their success.
>
> There have been a number of comments in these (BPO) discussions
> comparing us with India, South Africa and Mauritius.
>
> We cannot rely on the whims of those with negative (but often valid)
> perceptions towards us. We need to give ourselves a chance that is of
> our own creation.
>
> @ 40 Million (our 2010 population) growing at 2.5%
> (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ke.html
> and others estimate our population growth @ almost 2.7% per annum) we
> will add 1 Million Kenyans to our population next year. 2030 is sure to
> see us with a population of at least 60 Million.
>
> With that in mind and given the fact political instability is the
> current (and unfortunately valid) excuse to avoid Kenya, we would be
> most ignorant NOT to focus most of our BPO efforts internally. This will
> build up LOCAL companies and on a REGIONAL basis. This will build up
> local talent who may otherwise be demoralized for not being Western
> enough to Foreign BPO companies.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> bitange at jambo.co.ke wrote:
>> Walubengo,
>> With respect to capacity building, the Government has done the following
>> Established Multimedia University to focus on IT Skills Development;
>> Contracted the Central Bureau of Statistics through CCK to conduct ICT
>> Skills inventory in Kenya and Set up a task force to look into Skills
>> development as recommended by MaKinsey in the just concluded Value
>> Proposition.  We are in the process of appointing other stakeholders
>> into
>> the committee.
>>
>> Although we do not have a sector strategy on Capacity building, the
>> Governemnt takes issues of skills development very seriously. This is a
>> matter that NESC emphasizes as key to our competitiveness.  In this
>> regard
>> we look forward to a quick finalization of the skills inventory and the
>> task force recommendation.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>>
>> Ndemo.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> -Day 5 of 10- BPO Discussions, Human Capacity Issues
>>>
>>> Morning all,
>>>
>>> I trust you had a refreshing weekend.  Today I want to introduce the
>>> theme
>>> on Human Resource Development for the BPO industry.  The Researchers
>>> found
>>> that India, S.Africa and Mauritius had a comprehensive inventory of
>>> their
>>> skill-base that was also available for Validation by prospective
>>> employers
>>> and investors.  Another observation was ofcourse the sheer numbers of
>>> Indian graduates (millions) that made it the largest base of highly
>>> skilled pool of graduates with strong mathematical/scientific
>>> orientation.
>>>  Whereas, Mauritius was producing only 10,000 (university) graduates
>>> per
>>> year compared to Kenya's 30,000 per year, Mauritius had the advantage
>>> of
>>> properly documenting their national graduates database and marketing it
>>> appropriately to potential clients in Europe/America.  In addition, the
>>> Researchers noted that Mauritius had a government funded but
>>> Private-Sector oriented ICT Academy that produced graduates
>>> specificially
>>> for the ICT industry.
>>>
>>> In Kenya, the Researchers observed that apart from the lack of a
>>> national
>>> database on the available skills/graduates, some of the BPO operators
>>> were
>>> engaged in vicious poaching cycles where Agents trained in-house by one
>>> Operater are immediately hired by the Competing Operators. It was
>>> noted,
>>> that an attempt has been made by the .KE Government to create an
>>> Industry-specific University (Multimedia University College of Kenya)
>>> to
>>> address the HR gap but its success or otherwise will remain to be seen
>>> in
>>> a few years time.  The Researchers also noted that Kenya's
>>> English-speaking labor force had an edge over the Indian one given that
>>> the average Kenyan had a "neutral" accent unlike the Indian graduate
>>> who
>>> tended to have an "ethnic" accent that often distracted the
>>> Euro-American
>>>
>> %3
>>
>>
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-- 
Many thanks and best regards,

Marilyn Muthoni Kamuru
eManage Africa Limited
P.O.Box 18136 00500
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel:  (254) 20 828 383; 2034 550
Personal Cell:  (254) 0725 527 972, 0736 225 384
www.emanageafrica.com

-- 
Many thanks and best regards,

Marilyn Muthoni Kamuru
eManage Africa Limited
P.O.Box 18136 00500
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel:  (254) 20 828 383; 2034 550
Personal Cell:  (254) 0725 527 972, 0736 225 384
www.emanageafrica.com