[kictanet] Out sourcing; where does Kenya stand

Mon Oct 4 09:39:42 EAT 2010

Hi Liko,

Thanks for the insightful post on your experiences it is always refreshing to 
listen to new ideas.

You made something very clear that for most BPO jobs one does not need a 
university degree, do you therefore subscribe to the school of that the 
government should stop promising fresh graduates that the solution to their 
possible unemployment will be the BPO sector.  It is scary when you hear a 
minister at a graduation telling the students that they will get a job in the 
BPO sector.

You have indicated the 3,000 (1,200 at Safaricom) jobs currently 
created courtesy of the BPO industry yet we will have 450,000 leaving form 4 and 
30,000 graduating from Universities this year alone making the  number a drop in 
the ocean.

Whatever you believe, I strongly feel the government is not doing enough, like 
with any new sector without the participation of government there will be 
sluggish or no growth.  Investing in new sectors is what government is created 
for and not participation in mature markets an area that need to be divest.

How long will it take your company to directly or indirectly create 10 new jobs 
& long would it take the government to do the same, but in this we digress.

The critical question still remains where does Kenya stand in the new BPO order 
brought about by the financial crisis?
 Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
Kenya

Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

________________________________
From: Agosta Liko <agostal at gmail.com>
To: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Sun, 3 October, 2010 22:11:11
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Out sourcing; where does Kenya stand

Robert

No goal posts have shifted. The field is still the same and one can
say it will be better.

All those baby boomers who lost their jobs after the global financial
crisis are now competing with Indians, Malaysians etc etc etc. Even
though the Democrats in US don't like outsourcing, the Republicans
should make gains during the mid terms and it will become easier for
businesses to get cost effective labor abroad. Same goes for Europe
etc etc

The thing that concerns me is this focus on "capacity building" ... I
don't understand which training one needs in order to answer a phone
call :) ... and most of us who went to study abroad would attest to
the fact that you could get a customer service job, shadow an
experienced person for 3 days and you are picking calls ....  Even IT
jobs ... you did industry certs and broke through.

As I said, On Outsourcing the buck stops at the operators feet.

About "should we just hang our boots and direct our efforts and
resources elsewhere?"

There are companies still working well in the sector ... and they will
keep growing ... I am sure all have seen hard times, but hey - that's
business. If we are to move elsewhere ... what about the 3000+ jobs
created thus far ?

Bottom Line - On outsourcing.... lets not blame the government ...
they have done and continue to do their part

Thanks

On Sun, Oct 3, 2010 at 9:12 PM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi Liko,
> I think you have misunderstood the question here, we are singing about how
> the BPO industry will help us meet the objectives of the 2030 agenda yet the
> entire playing field is changing and we do not seem to be realigning.
> As the goal posts keep shifting are we able to continue playing or should we
> just hang our boots and direct our efforts and resources elsewhere?
> Regards
>
> Robert Yawe
> KAY System Technologies Ltd
> Phoenix House, 6th Floor
> P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
> Kenya
>
> Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
>
> ________________________________
> From: Agosta Liko <agostal at gmail.com>
> To: robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Sent: Sun, 3 October, 2010 17:51:07
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Out sourcing; where does Kenya stand
>
> Edwin
>
> There is a strategy and very true stuff in there. Lots of people are
> privy to what the mckinseys hv said etc etc. But to me, the main issue
> is execution and patience.
>
> In my experience, clients don't care where you are (country) all they
> care about is can you deliver ?
>
> Delivery becomes the issue and there is little the govt can do here.
>
> 3 years ago, a call to USA was 40shs per minute ....... Now it's
> 3shs, labor costs the same. Internet was usd6000 per mb (dedicated)
> .... I remember spending 400k just to get last mile fiber. Now 1mb is
> usd 500
>
> The buck has to stop at the operators feet .....
>
>
> On Sunday, October 3, 2010, Edwin Onchari <eonchari at lynxbits.com> wrote:
>> Hi Dr. Ndemo,
>>
>> My apologies for not having highlighted the positives that the government
>> has made in developing the ICT sector in general such as the Fiber link,
>> upcoming ICT parks, EPZ status for BPOs, skills development, ICT
>> frameworks,
>> etc.
>>
>> That said, my response here was in respect to placing Kenya as BPO
>> destination on the global stage. The BPO awareness that Kenya has received
>> over the last 6 years has been largely due to operator efforts (a handful
>> of
>> BPOs). My take is that the government should take up the country's
>> marketing
>> efforts more aggressively and as below:
>>
>> 1. Yes, sell to large IT investors and attract the IBMs of the IT world to
>> set-up/collaborate in Kenya. We are all aware that there is some work to
>> be
>> done in this front to get the capacity to attract such big players, and
>> this
>> might take a while.
>> 2. But also, target the lower lying fruit: Over 80% of the BPO market is
>> dominated by mid-sized companies from key markets of Europe and North
>> America-outsourcing. These organizations outsource small projects (1-50
>> seats), which cumulatively have translated to employing over 250,000 staff
>> in the Philippines/Malaysia for example. That did not come from a handful
>> of
>> big players setting up shop in the Philippines alone at the start, but
>> rather many small to mid-sized organizations sending work there.
>>
>> The global BPO forums and symposiums always have tier3 destination
>> governments in attendance, with the sole purpose of showcasing the
>> operators
>> in their countries, above and beyond, their conscious efforts of
>> attracting
>> big IT firms to set up shop in their countries. I could be gravely wrong
>> here, but, going through all the major global BPO forums that have taken
>> place in the last 3 years; Kenya has not featured in any of them (not by
>> our
>> government agencies at least). This means that very few firms out there
>> consider Kenya as a viable destination to place work, or are even aware
>> that
>> fiber landed in Kenya.
>>
>> I still strongly feel that unless we come up with a collaborative, well
>> thought through BPO strategy, we'll miss creating the kind of employment
>> numbers that we are envisioning in the 2030 blue print.
>>
>> While it is not my intent to project negative energy, as a seasoned
>> operator
>> in the industry, I feel obliged to inform where I feel we are missing the
>> targets.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Edwin
>>
>> Sales without Customer Service........is like stuffing money into a pocket
>> full of holes.
>> DAVID TOOMA
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: kictanet-bounces+eonchari=lynxbits.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eonchari=lynxbits.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On
>> Behalf Of bitange at jambo.co.ke
>> Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2010 10:34 PM
>> To: Edwin
>> Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'
>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Out sourcing; where does Kenya stand
>>
>> Fibre Landed in Kenya just last year.  We do not have the facility to
>> incubate upcoming enterprises or attract large IT Investors.  We are still
>> developing capacity.  To go to market one has to have the product.  GOK is
>> aggressively digitalizing all its registries to encourage new
>> applications.
>> GOK has invested heavily on the ICT infrastructure.
>>
>> If we truely want to succeed and move ICT to another level, such negative
>> energy is the last thing we need.  Having made his criticism, perhaps
>> Edwin
>> should elaborate what he would have done under the circumstances or what
>> he
>> considers to be the right track to achieving vision 2030.
>>
>> Ndemo.
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my BlackBerryR
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: "Edwin Onchari" <eonchari at lynxbits.com>
>> Sender: kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2010 22:54:04
>> To: <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
>> Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Out sourcing; where does Kenya stand
>>
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