Chocolate on me Andrea,

Successful countries have created a successful private sector with plain-vanilla, for-profit companies. They employ people, train people, pay taxes, provide products and services. If you make profits, the sky is the limit. If you don't, your reach is restricted by the amount of subsidies/donations you get.

This is a powerful statement. Coupled with the lethargy at KICTB makes for a serious rethink of the role of KICTB.

I wonder what would happen if half the energy spent “petitioning” government and donors would be spent getting stuff done on the ground.

Regards

From: kictanet-bounces+eugene=synergy.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eugene=synergy.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Andrea Bohnstedt
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 6:23 PM
To: Eugene Lidede
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Newest Name for AID ? Impact Sourcing ...

Admittedly I'm feeling a bit ranty about this. Successful countries have created a successful private sector with plain-vanilla, for-profit companies. They employ people, train people, pay taxes, provide products and services. If you make profits, the sky is the limt. If you don't, your reach is restricted by the amount of subsidies/donations you get. None of these endless and headline-grabbing contortions of impact sourcing/impact investing/refugees/marginalised youth/social entrepreneurship. Good grief.

I've been commissioned to write an article on mobile 'buzzwords' in emerging markets. The commissioning editor suggested including txteagle. I wasn't convinced to start with, but have tried to find out a bit more how txteagle actually works (beyond the claims of 100+ corporate partnerships with telcos, and a 2bn+ potential network of people). If anone here has done any work with them, I'd appreciate a direct email - I can't actually figure it out from their website.

In the meantime, I've assemble a list of topics/'buzzwords' that are mostly a lot more focused on straightforward business and investment issues. Just to show that yes, Africa can actually be perfectly dull in a familiar way: corporates, suits, boardrooms, accountants, stuff. It's not all touching refugees in camps and marginalised youth.

Rant over. Off to find some chocolate.

On 21 June 2011 17:47, Muchiri Nyaggah <muchiri@semacraft.com> wrote:

Andrea,

Your comments on that article have put a big grin on my face :) Samasource definitely wasn't any good to the KenCall sized BPO operators but a few smaller players. Samasource bids for work with large players in the west and finds operators with 'social impact' to work with apart from setting up shop in Dadaab.

Kind regards,

Muchiri Nyaggah

Principal Partner

@muchiri

+254 722 506400

Semacraft.com

On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 5:28 PM, Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt@ratio-magazine.com> wrote:

Two years ago, I stumbled over this little Samasource PR clip:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/13/iphone-app-provides-kenya_n_318692.html

As you can see from the comments underneath, it was probably at a slightly undersugared, over-caffeinated moment of my day :)

On 21 June 2011 17:22, Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt@ratio-magazine.com> wrote:

How did Samasource help BPOs get started? I don't remember Nik Nesbitt from KenCall, for example, talking about Samasource (but maybe I wasn't paying enough attention).

I do remember Nik Nesbitt and a number of others talking about perception issues: that Kenya is not seen as a BPO market internationally, it's not on anyone's radar screen, the operations are still too small to carry weight etc. I very much doubt that an NGO-type outfit like Samasource, with people in refugee camps, does much to create a perception of Kenya as a punchy, professional, grown-up BPO player.

On 21 June 2011 16:57, Muchiri Nyaggah <muchiri@semacraft.com> wrote:

Not quite aid, leans more towards trade (or traid). Players like Samasource have helped BPOs here get started.

Kind regards,

Muchiri Nyaggah
Principal Partner
@muchiri
+254 722 506400
Semacraft.com

On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 4:34 PM, Agosta Liko <agostal@gmail.com> wrote:
First, they called is Social Entrepreneurship, Then impact Investing ....now its Impact Sourcing .......

http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/news/press-releases/rockefeller-foundation-foster-impact
Press Releases
ShareThis
Rockefeller Foundation to Foster Impact Sourcing in Africa: Poverty Reduction through ICT Jobs
June 17, 2011 / Press Releases
New York, NY—A new report funded by the Rockefeller Foundation estimates that the field of Impact Sourcing, employing socioeconomically disadvantaged people in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centers, is currently $4.5 billion and has the potential to reach $20 billion and employ 780,000 by 2015. The report, conducted by Monitor Group, suggests a strong business case for Impact Sourcing, which can provide high-quality, reliable services at prices that are at least competitive with traditional BPO centers and, in some cases, almost 40 percent lower than what traditional providers can offer.
The findings, contained in the new working paper, Job Creation through Building the Field of Impact Sourcing, also finds significant potential for poverty alleviation because Impact Sourcing workers can earn incomes up to 100 percent over alternative employment options.
The working paper is part of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Poverty Reduction through Information and Digital Employment (PRIDE) work. Through PRIDE, the Rockefeller Foundation plans to support the development and testing of Impact Sourcing business models, support research on interventions and continue to build the network of key Impact Sourcing stakeholders to advance the field.
Impact Sourcing employs individuals with limited opportunity for sustainable employment as principal workers in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centers to provide high-quality, information-based services to domestic and international public and private-sector clients.
“Harnessing the global BPO trend, PRIDE exemplifies the Rockefeller Foundation’s commitment to promoting growth with equity, in which the poor and vulnerable have more access to opportunities, such as ICT employment,” said Dr. James Nyoro, Managing Director, Africa. “The Foundation is proud to partner with Monitor on this important research, which drives the idea that employing low-income workers will provide them with sustainable income which can lead to positive social outcomes, ultimately helping to improve livelihoods and build relevant skills for employment in the fast growing ICT sector.”
Job Creation through Building the Field of Impact Sourcing features case studies on current Impact Sourcing models in Africa, India and other regions, including those of Foundation grantees like Digital Divide Data, a social enterprise with the objective of creating jobs for poor and disadvantaged youth in Cambodia, Laos and Kenya; and Samasource, an intermediary that markets and sells Impact Sourcing services to clients based in the United States and United Kingdom.
“Based on more than 120 interviews across 13 countries with Impact Sourcing managers, providers of BPO services, outsourcing experts, employees, outsourcing clients, government officials, and other individuals linked to the Impact Sourcing space, this analysis creates a shared understanding of the current situation, the size of the opportunity and action agenda necessary to build this field,” said Michael Kubzansky, Global Heald of the Monitor Inclusive Markets Initiative.

The Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission to promote the well-being of people throughout the world has remained unchanged since its founding in 1913. Today, that mission is applied to an era of rapid globalization. Our vision is that this century will be one in which globalization’s benefits are more widely shared and its challenges are more easily weathered. To realize this vision, the Foundation seeks to achieve two fundamental goals in our work. First, we seek to build resilience that enhances individual, community and institutional capacity to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of acute crises and chronic stresses. Second, we seek to promote growth with equity in which the poor and vulnerable have more access to opportunities that improve their lives. In order to achieve these goals, the Foundation constructs its work into time-bound initiatives that have defined objectives and strategies for impact. These initiatives address challenges that lie either within or at the intersections of five issue areas: basic survival safeguards, global health, environment and climate change, urbanization, and social and economic security.

About Monitor Group
Monitor works with the world's leading corporations, governments and social sector organizations to drive growth in ways that are most important to them. Monitor Group offers a range of services—advisory, capability-building and capital services—designed to unlock the challenges of achieving sustainable growth. Monitor brings leading-edge ideas, approaches and methods to bear on clients' toughest problems and biggest opportunities. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the firm employs more than 1,500 people in 18 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.monitor.com.
Monitor Inclusive Markets (MIM) catalyzes support for market-based solutions to social challenges. MIM does this by understanding and improving the business models of enterprises currently engaging people that live at the bottom of the economic pyramid, particularly helping these enterprises reach scale and commercial viability. For more information, visit www.mim.monitor.com.
###
For media inquiries, please contact:
Svetlana Vaisman
            917-975-5318
_______________________________________________
kictanet mailing list
kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke
http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet

Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/muchiri%40semacraft.com

The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.

KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.

_______________________________________________
kictanet mailing list
kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke
http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/andrea.bohnstedt%40ratio-magazine.com

The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.

KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.

--
Andrea Bohnstedt
Publisher
+254 720 960 322

www.ratio-magazine.com
Find/post East Africa careers
Find/post conferences, workshops, trainings, other business events