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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>Fellow Contributors,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>Firstly I am impressed by the contributions that have been
made in this discussion forum and I must commend Marcel for kicking off this
timely discussion in the first place. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region> is a beautiful country with a
determined and hard working people. If there is one thing we Kenyans ask is an
equal opportunity and we shall excel. If you talk to any economist they will
tell you that the future is in the service industry more so for a country like
Kenya that is neither gifted in mineral riches nor expansive arable land (Kenya
is primarily 70% desert however with the remaining 30% we are able to become
one of the global leaders in floriculture and tea production). The sad
thing is that the world markets have changed and become increasingly
competitive. Service industries worldwide more so in the IT Outsourcing space
compete very aggressively for the market opportunities that present themselves.
And those opportunities that have already been bagged are protected jealously. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3 face=Calibri><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Calibri'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>Unfortunately when it comes to the IT industry the trend
that is emerging is not pretty. Blue chip companies, government departments and
parastatals have for a while adopted a strategy that has not been conducive in
nurturing this industry. The sad thing is where they seem to have a silent
conspiracy in only seeking international players for the major IT projects.
Talk of Chinese Government IT Loans/Grants complete with planeloads of Chinese
Engineers and technicians who swarm in and out without passing on any skills
leaving us with pretty much mis-directed/unused investment once the project is
implemented aren’t misplaced. Almost all of these institutions continue
running non-core back office activities that should be outsourced. The “smarter”
ones that should outsource are sure take their business offshore. Yes this is
true. It is an open secret that if you were to pick up a phone in EABL, the
pride of Kenyan Manufacturing, and dialed IT help desk you would end up talking
to a person sitting in <st1:City w:st="on">Bangalore</st1:City> <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
It’s not that I have anything against the good people of Bangalore, my
issue is that by farming out this work to Bangalore and not giving local
companies a chance to undertake the work locally we are actually exporting
jobs. We are taking jobs that were previously there and shipping them to <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>. The very
least Mr. Gerald Mahinda should have done was to engage local entities to carry
out this work and require them to partner with international firms to so as to
ensure that the necessary skills are brought to this market. A very good
example of this is the proposed IPO for Safaricom, some of the world’s
leading investment banks partnered entered into consortiums led by local
entities to carry out the investment advisory work. It took a concerted
government policy to ensure that this happened; otherwise local Investment
Banks would have had no chance in the world to win that work.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3 face=Calibri><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Calibri'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3 face=Calibri><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Calibri'>The Kenya BPO &
Contact Centre Society (KBPOCCS) says very little about growing local BPO
outsource work. Is this not on your agenda? It seems that we are focussing
(hastily) more on closing international outsource work even before you build
and deepen your local capabilities and capacity, not forgetting experience. Do
you also think that it is feasible/advisable to only depend on work from
off-shore, when we know of the many other challenges that we face e.g.
bandwidth availability and even when available, the quality of this bandwidth?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3 face=Calibri><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Calibri'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3 face=Calibri><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Calibri'>Fortunately not all is
lost, one major player (Safaricom) announced plans sometime mid-last year
thereabouts to outsource part of their customer care. Has the KPPOCCS motivated
for this work to be awarded to a local service provider OR are we going to see
this work being awarded to an off-shore operation? Did they ever award this work?
Safaricom made a</span></font><font face=Calibri><span style='font-family:Calibri'>
clear indication that it is interested in engaging local entities to carry out
this work. However given that this process has gone quiet I pray they have not
sold us down the river and awarded the business to some Indian or Philipino or
even South African company. My point is the international clients we are trying
to woe into farming out their work to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region> will check us out thoroughly
and if they see that the big players in this market are not giving their
business to their fellow Kenyans why should they?</span></font><font
face=Calibri><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:Calibri'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3 face=Calibri><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Calibri'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3 face=Calibri><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Calibri'>Similarly, Barclays
Bank is another major player where the CEO is on record for declaring he was
looking to establishing a large <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Contact</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType> in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region> which could serve other
Barclays operations across the globe (I think he said something like up to a
10,000 Seat contact center would be established! Can you imagine that? No one
knows whether he was misquoted). He lamented the poor telecommunications
infrastructure and our unpreparedness (probably skills, technology, work ethic,
culture etc –wise) for such work. I think that the best strategy to adopt
is for KPPOCCS in conjunction with the Kenya ICT Board and the Ministry of ICT
to lobby hard for these kinds of declared outsource opportunities and bring
them to fruition. Neglecting local outsource opportunities is like giving these
potential outsourcers a “carte blanche” option to look externally
for service providers. This way, many potential jobs are lost not forgetting
the foreign exchange that is exported with the jobs!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3 face=Calibri><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Calibri'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><font size=3 face=Calibri><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Calibri'>I read in the
newspapers yesterday that the “World Bank has released funds to support
Kenyan Call Centres”. The entire article was based on mostly subsidising
the cost of international bandwidth. In effect the money being lent to us for
this is all being remitted out to bandwidth providers who in a way put a
premium to the bandwidth that they supply us. Isn’t this money better
utilised now to actually help “incubate” the budding BPO/Contact
Center businesses by strengthening their skill capabilities, technology capacities,
etc…with seed capital. It is clear that only the few established players
and those yet to establish but with deep pockets to set up big, will reap the
benefits of this bandwidth subsidy. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Calibri'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>These are the reasons that I will throw the gauntlet to
the Honorable Minister Samuel Poghisio, Bwana PS Dr. Ndemo, CEO of ICTBoard Mr.
Paul Kukubo etc, please be vigilant, do not rest. Fight for this fledgling
industry, there are many low lying fruits such as Call centers for
organizations such as Safaricom, Kenya Police, GoK etc which you can lobby and
encourage to be outsourced to local entities that will give the local industry
the critical mass that will enable it grow and compete very well in the
international arena.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>I rest my passionate plea!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#1f497d" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#1f497d" face="Trebuchet MS"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:#1F497D'>-----------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 color=green face="Lucida Sans"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans";color:green;font-style:italic'>Akich
D. Kwach</span></font></i><font size=2 color=green face="Lucida Sans"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans";color:green'><br>
Director - Research & Operations<br>
ARCHWAY Technology<br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Mobile</st1:City></st1:place>:+254 722
742155<br>
Tel: +254 20 4778026</span></font><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><br>
e-mail: </span></font><a href="mailto:kwach@archway-productions.com"
title="mailto:kwach@archway-productions.com"><font size=2 face=Arial
title="mailto:kwach@archway-productions.com"><span
title="mailto:kwach@archway-productions.com"><span
title="mailto:kwach@archway-productions.com"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><span title="mailto:kwach@archway-productions.com">kwach@archway-productions.com</span></span></span></font></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><a
href="http://www.archway-productions.com/"
title="http://www.archway-productions.com/">www.archway-productions.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
<font color=teal><span style='color:teal'>*** Market & Social Research for
Development ***</span></font> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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