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<h1 style="margin: 12pt 0in 3pt; text-indent: 0in; page-break-before: always; page-break-after: avoid;">Kobia,</h1><br>I noted you mentioned BPO as one of the upcoming discussions at the Summit. I therefore take this opportunity to upload the summaries of the BPO discussions held mid last year. <br><br>More specifically, there was heavy and pending Government interventions as copied below in the Executive summary. Maybe if the Permanent Secretaries can commit to implementing on some them during your meeting, then those of us not invited will begin to feel it wasnt after all purely pleasure at Leisure Lodge ;-)<br><br>walu.<br>----begins---<br><b><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial;"><span style=""> </span>Executive Summary<o:p></o:p></span></b>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">A team of Researchers (BPO
Researchers) were commissioned by IDRC to do a study titled:<span style=""> </span><i>Development of a Business Process
Outsourcing Industry in Kenya: Critical Success Factors. </i>The aim of this
study was “to undertake comprehensive research in the business process
outsourcing (BPO) sub-sector in pioneer, emerging and mature markets to provide
evidence and a deeper understanding of the imperatives for success in this
industry to better inform Kenya’s policy decisions and investment choices”. The
studies were<span style=""> </span>conducted in two client
countries, namely <st1:country-region w:st="on">United Kingdom</st1:country-region>
and the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States of America</st1:country-region>
and four vendor countries, namely <st1:country-region w:st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Mauritius</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">After the above study was
completed, the Researchers had preliminary Results/Reports (Synthesis) that
they felt needed to be discussed by Stakeholders with the aim of cross-checking
and validating some of the preliminary conclusions.<span style=""> </span>KICTAnet, a multi-stakeholder forum was
chosen as the platform to subject the preliminary findings of the study to the
Stakeholders.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB">The Stakeholders discussed
the Research Synthesised findings under various BPO themes that included: P</span><span class="Teletype"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">olicy, Legal and
Institutional (Governance) Frameworks, Subsidies, Human capacity Issues, Youth
& Gender issues and Strengths & Challenges </span></span><span class="Teletype"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" lang="EN-GB">facing the BPO sector.<span style="">
</span>Notable feedback on the BPO Governance Frameworks was the lack of
enabling legislation specifically the Data Protection and the Freedom of
Information Acts. Lack of enforceable Standards for BPO Training and Operations
in the industry was also cited as a barrier to provisioning high quality
standards of service.<span style=""> </span>Negative
publicity, general insecurity and unreliable Utilities (power, road,
telecommunication) presented institutional challenges that made it difficult to
sell <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
as a favourable BPO destination.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Teletype"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" lang="EN-GB">With
regard to Human Capacity, the lack of a standardized BPO curriculum, lack of a
National Skill-set Register and little or no experience for the BPO Operators
made Kenya's BPO labour market less competitive. Domestic
"outsourcing" both from Government and Private Sector was proposed as
the best way to demonstrate confidence while providing experience to the
emerging BPO industry.<span style=""> </span>The question of
Subsidies for the sector was highly contentious with some participants pushing
for an array of benefits - Tax-holidays, Utility and Training Subsidies,
Government Contracts, amongst others. Those against subsidies argued that BPO
is a sub-sector just like any other and therefore should not enjoy Government-subsidies
at the exclusion of the others. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Teletype"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" lang="EN-GB">The
Youth and Gender discussion revealed that lack of clear, career-path
progression meant that most youth in the BPO sector considered their jobs as a
stop-gap measure to a better opportunity elsewhere.<span style=""> </span>It was also observed the that Kenyan Labour
law that afforded mothers 3months maternity leave meant that employers
implicitly preferred male employees. Finally, participants discussed the
Strengths and Challenges, noting the advent of the undersea cable as the biggest
strength while Negative Publicity as the biggest weakness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<br>---ends---<br><br>walu.<br><br>--- On <b>Wed, 3/31/10, Kaburo Kobia <i><kkobia@ict.go.ke></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br>From: Kaburo Kobia <kkobia@ict.go.ke><br>Subject: [kictanet] Presentations from Connected Government Summit 2010<br>To: jwalu@yahoo.com<br>Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke><br>Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 12:14 PM<br><br><div id="yiv1670748335">Dear all,<div><br>Presentations from Connected Gov Summit 2010 are now <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.ict.go.ke/connectedgov">available online</a>. We are also taking questions from twitter and the Connected Gov website (click on C<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.ict.go.ke/connectedgov/?cat=8">omments/Question</a> and post your question or comment).<br>
<br><div>Presentations include: <br>- Opening speech by the Minister of Information and Communications Hon Samuel Poghisio<br>- From reform to transformation by Emmanuel Lubembe Head Public Service Transformation Department <br>
- Transforming Company registry by Wanjuki Muchemi, Solicitor General<br>- and several presentations from private sector.<br><br>Today we expect to hear from more government departments on their digitization projects, some local SMEs and BPO companies. Please view the <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.ict.go.ke/connectedgov/?p=40">program here</a>. <br>
<br><div>Visit: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.ict.go.ke/connectedgov">www.ict.go.ke/connectedgov</a><br>Track on twitter: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23connectedgov">#connectedgov</a><br><br></div><div>Regards,<br>--<br>
Kaburo Kobia<br>Kenya ICT Board<br>Project Manager: Local Digital Content<br>Kenya ICT Board<br><br>Telposta Towers, 12th Floor, Kenyatta Avenue<br>P.O Box 27150 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya<br>t: + 254-020-2093040 | m: + 254 (0)729466260 | w: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.ict.go.ke">www.ict.go.ke</a><br>
---------------------<br>The Kenya ICT Board Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment<br>
</div></div></div>
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