Dear All,
Although I'm coming rather belated on this, I have this analogy in the BPO sector.

Assume I work for radio station X and I want to make an urgent announcement or event on radio. My radio station has packaged the same programmes as I want to make but due to the reach of the target, radio Y comes in handy. I very well understand that the editorial policy of my radio station is clear, say, an employee should not promote the any other radio station, either in official or personal capacity, and going against that, has stringent repercussions including a sack. As an employee (whether a senior or subordinate), it would take a lojng time to have the station reach the masses as I want (the regulations, politics, etc) within the shortest time possible.
In order for the message to be relayed within the time limit, I  either (through a proxy) go to radio Y and have it aired or use my radio station as long as the message is delivered, then I shouldn't worry about the target audience. However, if I convince my radio station's management to either outsource or expand the existing reach of audience and they buy my argument, then we would be marketing both our company and the other 'rival' company, as long as the end justifies the means!

What I'm trying to drive home is for the BPO to work in Kenya, there has to be some strong policies in the sector, which will not only be definitive on the roles of key (and minor) players. too, but also benefit the local community in understanding the importance of the sector.

Another thing, as someone has pointed out, is confidence. How many of us are really confident enough to initiate an innovative project, if the government  does not invest in the project?
This confidence again, should not be directed towards the foreign investors more than the local investors, because having confidence with the former, loses the importance of local investors in adapting changes that are found within their reach.

 



2009/6/4 Peres Were <pwere@cascadegl.com>


External perception is absolutely critical in the race to obtain international BPO contracts. No one wants to outsource to a country which they 'percieve' as unstable, or which they percieve as underdeveloped. The truth is that most executives in our source markets for BPO work, in particular USA, percieve Africa as one country with a myriad of ills:

Somalia -Pirates
Congo - Wars
Darfur- kicking out the Aid organizations, starvation
Kenya ? Post Elections Violence
Nigeria ? 419 Scams
Zimbabwe ? Cholera and Inflation
Etc., etc.

The best way to counter these perceptions is to have in-coming trade delegations from our source markets, so they can see for themselves what Kenya has to offer.

W need to work on changing these negative perceptions of Kenya/Africa, BUT at the same time build up our internal capacity. We cannot do one without the other. Local outsourcing market needs to be developed in tandem with the international.

Peres


Quoting Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com>:

Colleagues your comments are right, however we seemed to be more inclined at
external perceptions as opposed to building up internal capacity, must it
take foreigners to show us our potential?

On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 9:01 AM, munyiva ngea <munyivangea@gmail.com> wrote:

Good morning,

I agree with Peter about perception take Mauritius for example the
Board of Investment and the BPO Vendors strive to change the
perception of the country as a mere tourist attraction to an ICT Hub.
They invite prospective investors or clients to the country take them
to their lavish well equipped offices, which are probably located in
Ebene Cyber City the landing point of the Submarine cable so the
clients are assured of available internet infrastructure.After the
site visit the clients are then whisked away to have a fantastic
weekend on the beaches or on a boat. Simply put they show clients they
can do much more than provide BPO services they can offer quality of
life.

To answer Question 3 i think without the government and local vendors
taking decisive steps to attract and retain investors and clients to
the country. Basically we need to give officials who are marketing the
country the funds to be able to invite the prospective investors and
clients to the country to show them we sufficient infrastructure and
Human resources.

In order to build confidence in the country's capabilities we have to
have to EVIDENCE of these capabilities take India for example with its
National Skills Registry which is an industry initiative to ensure
that individuals employed by organizations have their background and
antecedents verified
(http://news.indiamart.com/news-analysis/national-skills-regi-13182.html)
prospective clients need only to browse through the site to be assured
that the country has the Human resource capacity needed. What about
Kenya apart from various websites which allow individuals to upload
their CVs where can a prospective client get information on the
available agents, software developers and so on?? this information is
not available on various institutional websites (universities,
colleges) so how do we expect a client to actually believe that we are
capable if we are unable to show it (Perception again!!)



--
Best regards
Munyiva Ngea

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