[kictanet] Day 6 of 10- BPO Discussions, HR Issues (Continued)

Walubengo J jwalu at yahoo.com
Tue Jun 9 08:16:38 EAT 2009 

Hey,

Amazing contributions. The value of a network is indeed a function of what their membership puts on the table and I have to agree I have never seen so much value put forth in such a long time...

Luckily, on our schedule, which I copy below for the benefit of the late-joiners, we have another day (today) to exhaust the HR issues.

===schedule=====
1.The policy, legal and institutional frameworks for BPO sector (2days, Walu moderating)
2.Subsidies accorded to BPO sector (2days, Walu moderating)
3.Human capacity issues (2days, Walu moderating)
4.Youth and gender issues (2days, Nyaki moderating)
5.Strengths and challenges for Kenya as a BPO destination (2days, Nyaki moderating)
====ends===

So lets have more contributions on HR and ofcourse belated contributions on previous themes (just post against the corresponding theme/subject line)

walu.


--- On Tue, 6/9/09, n_macharia at yahoo.co.uk <n_macharia at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> From: n_macharia at yahoo.co.uk <n_macharia at yahoo.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] [Fwd: Re:  Day 5 of 10- BPO Discussions, HR Issues]
> To: jwalu at yahoo.com
> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 1:52 AM
> Marilyn,
> I agree with you entirely on the fact the graduates have
> the necessary business, computing and relevant techinical
> skills to take up jobs in BPO. Obviously no academic
> ttaining must be followed by job training. 
> The present universities curriculum are under constant and
> regular reviews to make absolutely relevant  and demand
> driven.  CHE (Commision for Higher Education) demands
> that reviews and revions be done after every Five years.
> Such curriculum developments and revisions must provide
> evidence of all stakeholders participation ( professionals,
> industry, government, alumni etc) in curriculum development.
> In addition, IUCEA is also giving new guidelines for
> curriculum development esp for accreditation purposes. The
> formation of other bodies would look to mw like duplication.
> The principal focus is to create a suitable environment to
> manage and operate domestic BPOs which will be building
> capacity while
> we manage and  repair our tarnished image
> abroad.  Such investiments would not only create the
> much needed job opportunities but would also provide avenues
> for skills development and transfer.
> 
> Nancy
> Sent from my BlackBerry®
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Marilyn M. Kamuru" <mkamuru at emanageafrica.com>
> 
> Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2009 18:00:16 
> To: <n_macharia at yahoo.co.uk>
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Subject: [kictanet] [Fwd: Re:  Day 5 of 10- BPO
> Discussions, HR Issues]
> 
> 
> 
> 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
> 
> 
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