Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
-Dear Listers, I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions. But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation. On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the problem being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned. Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful? Floor is open comments. walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
Walu, and fellow Listers, i think the clause that requires local investors to on twenty percent might be counter productive for an emerging market such as Kenya at this point in time, i like d Dr Ndemo's suggestion of requiring the companies to list on the stock exchange so that locals can then own a chunk of it, remember Kenya is a "small market" to most multinationals no wonder large companies prefer dealing with clusters MEA and the likes. On another note Barclays Bank had a program where they were taking members of their business club to Hong Kong and the likes, fellow listers we should not underestimate the Value of EXPOSURE, Kenya has a well educated workforce but they just need to be tickled by exposure and you will be surprised at the outcome, could someone help me elaborate on this it may not be scholarly enough ! On 6/5/09, Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote:
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the problem being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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This message was sent to: otieno.barrack@gmail.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/otieno.barrack%40gmail....
-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
Barrack, The great thing about such a forum is there is no right or wrong answer as long as you are on topic...one need not be a scholar to make a worthwhile contribution. Even some of us...so called scholars sometimes fumble in our responses....I read some of what I wrote yesterday and saw a few errors but hey I wanted to ensure that I was contributing in a timely manner. The long and short of what I am trying to say is your contribution below is well understood and does not require further scholarly elaboration, others will just tease out issues from it and flesh it out if need be. I hope this also helps the many listers out there in cyberspace who would like to say something but are feeling slightly overwhelmed by these 'scholars'. Enjoy chatting....KICTANET is your space............ Nyaki ________________________________ From: Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> To: elizaslider@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Friday, June 5, 2009 9:03:10 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies Walu, and fellow Listers, i think the clause that requires local investors to on twenty percent might be counter productive for an emerging market such as Kenya at this point in time, i like d Dr Ndemo's suggestion of requiring the companies to list on the stock exchange so that locals can then own a chunk of it, remember Kenya is a "small market" to most multinationals no wonder large companies prefer dealing with clusters MEA and the likes. On another note Barclays Bank had a program where they were taking members of their business club to Hong Kong and the likes, fellow listers we should not underestimate the Value of EXPOSURE, Kenya has a well educated workforce but they just need to be tickled by exposure and you will be surprised at the outcome, could someone help me elaborate on this it may not be scholarly enough ! On 6/5/09, Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote: -Dear Listers, I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions. But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation. On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the problem being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned. Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful? Floor is open comments. walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: otieno.barrack@gmail.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/otieno.barrack%40gmail.... -- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
Thanks Nyaki, i have copied the Statistics on a word document for onward digestion, i was just being loud to sell my point, i enjoy learning from our scholars MM, Waema, Dr Ndemo and many others on the list the discussion is great On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 3:03 PM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
Barrack,
The great thing about such a forum is there is no right or wrong answer as long as you are on topic...one need not be a scholar to make a worthwhile contribution. Even some of us...so called scholars sometimes fumble in our responses....I read some of what I wrote yesterday and saw a few errors but hey I wanted to ensure that I was contributing in a timely manner. The long and short of what I am trying to say is your contribution below is well understood and does not require further scholarly elaboration, others will just tease out issues from it and flesh it out if need be.
I hope this also helps the many listers out there in cyberspace who would like to say something but are feeling slightly overwhelmed by these 'scholars'. Enjoy chatting....KICTANET is your space............
Nyaki
------------------------------ *From:* Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> *To:* elizaslider@yahoo.com *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Friday, June 5, 2009 9:03:10 AM *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
Walu, and fellow Listers, i think the clause that requires local investors to on twenty percent might be counter productive for an emerging market such as Kenya at this point in time, i like d Dr Ndemo's suggestion of requiring the companies to list on the stock exchange so that locals can then own a chunk of it, remember Kenya is a "small market" to most multinationals no wonder large companies prefer dealing with clusters MEA and the likes. On another note Barclays Bank had a program where they were taking members of their business club to Hong Kong and the likes, fellow listers we should not underestimate the Value of EXPOSURE, Kenya has a well educated workforce but they just need to be tickled by exposure and you will be surprised at the outcome, could someone help me elaborate on this it may not be scholarly enough !
On 6/5/09, Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote:
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the problem being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
This message was sent to: otieno.barrack@gmail.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/otieno.barrack%40gmail....
-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
As a matter of interest, is there anyone in the Vision 2030 team or the NESC on this list? I would love to hear a comment from them on how they intend to work with us to wake up this industry. Gilda Odera Quoting Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com>:
Thanks Nyaki, i have copied the Statistics on a word document for onward digestion, i was just being loud to sell my point, i enjoy learning from our scholars MM, Waema, Dr Ndemo and many others on the list the discussion is great
On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 3:03 PM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
Barrack,
The great thing about such a forum is there is no right or wrong answer as long as you are on topic...one need not be a scholar to make a worthwhile contribution. Even some of us...so called scholars sometimes fumble in our responses....I read some of what I wrote yesterday and saw a few errors but hey I wanted to ensure that I was contributing in a timely manner. The long and short of what I am trying to say is your contribution below is well understood and does not require further scholarly elaboration, others will just tease out issues from it and flesh it out if need be.
I hope this also helps the many listers out there in cyberspace who would like to say something but are feeling slightly overwhelmed by these 'scholars'. Enjoy chatting....KICTANET is your space............
Nyaki
------------------------------ *From:* Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> *To:* elizaslider@yahoo.com *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Friday, June 5, 2009 9:03:10 AM *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
Walu, and fellow Listers, i think the clause that requires local investors to on twenty percent might be counter productive for an emerging market such as Kenya at this point in time, i like d Dr Ndemo's suggestion of requiring the companies to list on the stock exchange so that locals can then own a chunk of it, remember Kenya is a "small market" to most multinationals no wonder large companies prefer dealing with clusters MEA and the likes. On another note Barclays Bank had a program where they were taking members of their business club to Hong Kong and the likes, fellow listers we should not underestimate the Value of EXPOSURE, Kenya has a well educated workforce but they just need to be tickled by exposure and you will be surprised at the outcome, could someone help me elaborate on this it may not be scholarly enough !
On 6/5/09, Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote:
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market
the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the
as problem
being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
This message was sent to: otieno.barrack@gmail.com Unsubscribe or change your options at
http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/otieno.barrack%40gmail....
-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/
I second that as their comments would be very useful going forward as the findings and discussions need to feed into policy. N ________________________________ From: "godera@skyweb.co.ke" <godera@skyweb.co.ke> To: elizaslider@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Friday, June 5, 2009 8:51:23 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies As a matter of interest, is there anyone in the Vision 2030 team or the NESC on this list? I would love to hear a comment from them on how they intend to work with us to wake up this industry. Gilda Odera Quoting Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com>:
Thanks Nyaki, i have copied the Statistics on a word document for onward digestion, i was just being loud to sell my point, i enjoy learning from our scholars MM, Waema, Dr Ndemo and many others on the list the discussion is great
On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 3:03 PM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
Barrack,
The great thing about such a forum is there is no right or wrong answer as long as you are on topic...one need not be a scholar to make a worthwhile contribution. Even some of us...so called scholars sometimes fumble in our responses....I read some of what I wrote yesterday and saw a few errors but hey I wanted to ensure that I was contributing in a timely manner. The long and short of what I am trying to say is your contribution below is well understood and does not require further scholarly elaboration, others will just tease out issues from it and flesh it out if need be.
I hope this also helps the many listers out there in cyberspace who would like to say something but are feeling slightly overwhelmed by these 'scholars'. Enjoy chatting....KICTANET is your space............
Nyaki
------------------------------ *From:* Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> *To:* elizaslider@yahoo.com *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Friday, June 5, 2009 9:03:10 AM *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
Walu, and fellow Listers, i think the clause that requires local investors to on twenty percent might be counter productive for an emerging market such as Kenya at this point in time, i like d Dr Ndemo's suggestion of requiring the companies to list on the stock exchange so that locals can then own a chunk of it, remember Kenya is a "small market" to most multinationals no wonder large companies prefer dealing with clusters MEA and the likes. On another note Barclays Bank had a program where they were taking members of their business club to Hong Kong and the likes, fellow listers we should not underestimate the Value of EXPOSURE, Kenya has a well educated workforce but they just need to be tickled by exposure and you will be surprised at the outcome, could someone help me elaborate on this it may not be scholarly enough !
On 6/5/09, Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote:
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market
the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the
as problem
being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
This message was sent to: otieno.barrack@gmail.com Unsubscribe or change your options at
http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/otieno.barrack%40gmail....
-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: elizaslider@yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/elizaslider%40yahoo.com
Dear Lister, Thanx for your continued contributions. I just wish to state that traditionally and like in all workshops/conferences, we usually use weekends to "refresh". This means that Listers can belatedly catch up and post on previous themes while others can chose to go visit the national parks... So that means we shall continue the discussions next Monday 8th with HR/Capacity issues as our theme. regards. walu.
I second that as their comments would be very useful going forward as the findings and discussions need to feed into policy.
N
________________________________ From: "godera@skyweb.co.ke" <godera@skyweb.co.ke> To: elizaslider@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Friday, June 5, 2009 8:51:23 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
As a matter of interest, is there anyone in the Vision 2030 team or the NESC on this list? I would love to hear a comment from them on how they intend to work with us to wake up this industry.
Gilda Odera Quoting Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com>:
Thanks Nyaki, i have copied the Statistics on a word document for onward digestion, i was just being loud to sell my point, i enjoy learning from our scholars MM, Waema, Dr Ndemo and many others on the list the discussion is great
On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 3:03 PM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
Barrack,
The great thing about such a forum is there is no right or wrong answer as long as you are on topic...one need not be a scholar to make a worthwhile contribution. Even some of us...so called scholars sometimes fumble in our responses....I read some of what I wrote yesterday and saw a few errors but hey I wanted to ensure that I was contributing in a timely manner. The long and short of what I am trying to say is your contribution below is well understood and does not require further scholarly elaboration, others will just tease out issues from it and flesh it out if need be.
I hope this also helps the many listers out there in cyberspace who would like to say something but are feeling slightly overwhelmed by these 'scholars'. Enjoy chatting....KICTANET is your space............
Nyaki
------------------------------ *From:* Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> *To:* elizaslider@yahoo.com *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Friday, June 5, 2009 9:03:10 AM *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
Walu, and fellow Listers, i think the clause that requires local investors to on twenty percent might be counter productive for an emerging market such as Kenya at this point in time, i like d Dr Ndemo's suggestion of requiring the companies to list on the stock exchange so that locals can then own a chunk of it, remember Kenya is a "small market" to most multinationals no wonder large companies prefer dealing with clusters MEA and the likes. On another note Barclays Bank had a program where they were taking members of their business club to Hong Kong and the likes, fellow listers we should not underestimate the Value of EXPOSURE, Kenya has a well educated workforce but they just need to be tickled by exposure and you will be surprised at the outcome, could someone help me elaborate on this it may not be scholarly enough !
On 6/5/09, Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote:
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like
challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of
highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy
for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within
in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the
the the provisions the EPZ problem
being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
This message was sent to: otieno.barrack@gmail.com Unsubscribe or change your options at
http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/otieno.barrack%40gmail....
-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/
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Walu, you forgot to add... and seek divine intervention for guidance in the past week and strength throughout the coming week. On 06/06/2009, jwalubengo@mmu.ac.ke <jwalubengo@mmu.ac.ke> wrote:
Dear Lister,
Thanx for your continued contributions. I just wish to state that traditionally and like in all workshops/conferences, we usually use weekends to "refresh". This means that Listers can belatedly catch up and post on previous themes while others can chose to go visit the national parks...
So that means we shall continue the discussions next Monday 8th with HR/Capacity issues as our theme.
regards.
walu.
I second that as their comments would be very useful going forward as the findings and discussions need to feed into policy.
N
________________________________ From: "godera@skyweb.co.ke" <godera@skyweb.co.ke> To: elizaslider@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Friday, June 5, 2009 8:51:23 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
As a matter of interest, is there anyone in the Vision 2030 team or the NESC on this list? I would love to hear a comment from them on how they intend to work with us to wake up this industry.
Gilda Odera Quoting Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com>:
Thanks Nyaki, i have copied the Statistics on a word document for onward digestion, i was just being loud to sell my point, i enjoy learning from our scholars MM, Waema, Dr Ndemo and many others on the list the discussion is great
On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 3:03 PM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
Barrack,
The great thing about such a forum is there is no right or wrong answer as long as you are on topic...one need not be a scholar to make a worthwhile contribution. Even some of us...so called scholars sometimes fumble in our responses....I read some of what I wrote yesterday and saw a few errors but hey I wanted to ensure that I was contributing in a timely manner. The long and short of what I am trying to say is your contribution below is well understood and does not require further scholarly elaboration, others will just tease out issues from it and flesh it out if need be.
I hope this also helps the many listers out there in cyberspace who would like to say something but are feeling slightly overwhelmed by these 'scholars'. Enjoy chatting....KICTANET is your space............
Nyaki
------------------------------ *From:* Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> *To:* elizaslider@yahoo.com *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Friday, June 5, 2009 9:03:10 AM *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
Walu, and fellow Listers, i think the clause that requires local investors to on twenty percent might be counter productive for an emerging market such as Kenya at this point in time, i like d Dr Ndemo's suggestion of requiring the companies to list on the stock exchange so that locals can then own a chunk of it, remember Kenya is a "small market" to most multinationals no wonder large companies prefer dealing with clusters MEA and the likes. On another note Barclays Bank had a program where they were taking members of their business club to Hong Kong and the likes, fellow listers we should not underestimate the Value of EXPOSURE, Kenya has a well educated workforce but they just need to be tickled by exposure and you will be surprised at the outcome, could someone help me elaborate on this it may not be scholarly enough !
On 6/5/09, Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote:
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like
challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of
highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy
for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within
in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the
the the provisions the EPZ problem
being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
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-- Solomon Mburu P.O. Box 19343 - 00202 Nairobi Cell: (+254-0) 735 431041 Man is a gregarious animal and enjoys agreement as cows will graze all the same way to the side of a hill! AND It is better to die in dignity than in the ignomity of ambiguous generosity!
Mburu, Very true. Amen to that. Have a spiritual weekend too. walu.
Walu, you forgot to add... and seek divine intervention for guidance in the past week and strength throughout the coming week.
On 06/06/2009, jwalubengo@mmu.ac.ke <jwalubengo@mmu.ac.ke> wrote:
Dear Lister,
Thanx for your continued contributions. I just wish to state that traditionally and like in all workshops/conferences, we usually use weekends to "refresh". This means that Listers can belatedly catch up and post on previous themes while others can chose to go visit the national parks...
So that means we shall continue the discussions next Monday 8th with HR/Capacity issues as our theme.
regards.
walu.
I second that as their comments would be very useful going forward as the findings and discussions need to feed into policy.
N
________________________________ From: "godera@skyweb.co.ke" <godera@skyweb.co.ke> To: elizaslider@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Friday, June 5, 2009 8:51:23 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
As a matter of interest, is there anyone in the Vision 2030 team or the NESC on this list? I would love to hear a comment from them on how they intend to work with us to wake up this industry.
Gilda Odera Quoting Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com>:
Thanks Nyaki, i have copied the Statistics on a word document for onward digestion, i was just being loud to sell my point, i enjoy learning from our scholars MM, Waema, Dr Ndemo and many others on the list the discussion is great
On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 3:03 PM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
Barrack,
The great thing about such a forum is there is no right or wrong answer as long as you are on topic...one need not be a scholar to make a worthwhile contribution. Even some of us...so called scholars sometimes fumble in our responses....I read some of what I wrote yesterday and saw a few errors but hey I wanted to ensure that I was contributing in a timely manner. The long and short of what I am trying to say is your contribution below is well understood and does not require further scholarly elaboration, others will just tease out issues from it and flesh it out if need be.
I hope this also helps the many listers out there in cyberspace who would like to say something but are feeling slightly overwhelmed by these 'scholars'. Enjoy chatting....KICTANET is your space............
Nyaki
------------------------------ *From:* Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> *To:* elizaslider@yahoo.com *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Friday, June 5, 2009 9:03:10 AM *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
Walu, and fellow Listers, i think the clause that requires local investors to on twenty percent might be counter productive for an emerging market such as Kenya at this point in time, i like d Dr Ndemo's suggestion of requiring the companies to list on the stock exchange so that locals can then own a chunk of it, remember Kenya is a "small market" to most multinationals no wonder large companies prefer dealing with clusters MEA and the likes. On another note Barclays Bank had a program where they were taking members of their business club to Hong Kong and the likes, fellow listers we should not underestimate the Value of EXPOSURE, Kenya has a well educated workforce but they just need to be tickled by exposure and you will be surprised at the outcome, could someone help me elaborate on this it may not be scholarly enough !
On 6/5/09, Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote:
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like
challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of
highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy
for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to
Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within
in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the
the the provisions the the EPZ problem
being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
-- Barrack O. Otieno ISSEN CONSULTING Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 http://projectdiscovery.or.ke To give up the task of reforming society is to give up ones responsibility as a free man. Alan Paton, South Africa
------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/
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-- Solomon Mburu P.O. Box 19343 - 00202 Nairobi Cell: (+254-0) 735 431041
Man is a gregarious animal and enjoys agreement as cows will graze all the same way to the side of a hill!
AND
It is better to die in dignity than in the ignomity of ambiguous generosity!
Hi Walu I agree that incentives for a young industry is necessary we need to think through the basis that guides the incentives Today's discussion begs the questions - why do the bpos need an incentive in the first place? Does the industry have barriers that ordinary business strategies cannot overcome and therefore need a push? What is the boundary between baby-sitting the industry and therefore weakening it and incentive framework for growth and for how long? And if we cross-subsidise with resources from other sectors, when will this sector pay back to that sector or support other sectors to also grow? Should we incentivise the sector because other countries are doing it? Unfortunately I do not have the answer for these questions but my view is that we should be very clear on the issue of incentives. Our framework for incentives should not be driven by what other countries are doing and then copy them but rather quantify the non-business barriers to bpo business and then provide resources to overcome the challenge. These resources of course go beyond fiscal measures and the effort should translate the benefit to whatever sector funded the incentives. Thus at the national level the cost/benefit of any such incentives should compete favourably with other national options. The treasury will be looking at the commitment set out in v2030 of 10000 jobs and ks10b and accept to forego tax revenue in the same measure. We start with low target and that limits the incentives the sector can get - a higher target should galvanise more incentives and higher prioritisation Cheers MM -----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.k e] On Behalf Of Walubengo J Sent: 05 June 2009 07:48 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies -Dear Listers, I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions. But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation. On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the problem being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned. Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful? Floor is open comments. walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
Dear MM, There is more subjectivity to today's Q than would be expected. In olden days when I went to secondary school some of us with a name starting with O had to drop it so as to get admissions and comforts (bursaries) that came to not being associated with Nyanza and Western Kenya. Sadly even in this century those stereos still manifest themselves, but more subtle, hence the subjectivity. Assuming objectivity let us consider the following:- There is need to lump finance, grant and incentives together or clearly differentiate them so as to be clear (reduce subjectivity). From past EPZ experience we need to come up with relaxed investment policies and taxation regimes that does not discriminate, otherwise we shall have the new phenomena of Kenyans rushing to Dubai and Qatar, registering companies which return here purporting to be foreign so as to enjoy loop sided policies. The reverse is when Kenyans go to Europe and America, register companies so as to enjoy the comfort of laws there when getting jobs there which they channel to their local outfits as outsourced. The ideal is just plain partnership between locals and foreign nationals, but in a world that encourages shortcuts ideals are mirages. ** See http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7931 for Egyptian case of incentives like rental and training subsidies between 85% and 100%. The government incentives are based on two basic premises: one, the incentives help international companies bring their names to Egypt; and two, the companies are coming with both deep pockets and long-term plans, bringing employment to hundreds if not thousands of people, something local companies currently cannot do. We need to add other incentives in our case. These ranges from (a) investment grant to enable our fledgling locals ride the slump in the economies in Europe and America where most clients come from, (b) cash incentives to career concern for the employee just as banks and others attract maths, engineering and science graduates to pursue audit etc type of jobs, (c) giving such stand-alone units the same incentives as the units in the EPZ, IT Parks and Science & Technology Parks (removal of discrimination since we all can see EPZ are being phased out in favor of Special Economic Zones which might end up in the long run being a change just in the name and not the decadent process experienced before and we all know reforms are not about process but recognizing we cannot continue with 'the business as usual' attitude). Many BPOs provide transportation facility especially for night duty shifts. We could add the facility for extensive health check-up. Last but not least is subsidized Food. Enjoy your Furahi day all, David On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 9:34 AM, muriuki mureithi < mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke> wrote:
Hi Walu
I agree that incentives for a young industry is necessary we need to think through the basis that guides the incentives
Today's discussion begs the questions - why do the bpos need an incentive in the first place? Does the industry have barriers that ordinary business strategies cannot overcome and therefore need a push? What is the boundary between baby-sitting the industry and therefore weakening it and incentive framework for growth and for how long? And if we cross-subsidise with resources from other sectors, when will this sector pay back to that sector or support other sectors to also grow? Should we incentivise the sector because other countries are doing it?
Unfortunately I do not have the answer for these questions but my view is that we should be very clear on the issue of incentives. Our framework for incentives should not be driven by what other countries are doing and then copy them but rather quantify the non-business barriers to bpo business and then provide resources to overcome the challenge. These resources of course go beyond fiscal measures and the effort should translate the benefit to whatever sector funded the incentives.
Thus at the national level the cost/benefit of any such incentives should compete favourably with other national options. The treasury will be looking at the commitment set out in v2030 of 10000 jobs and ks10b and accept to forego tax revenue in the same measure. We start with low target and that limits the incentives the sector can get - a higher target should galvanise more incentives and higher prioritisation Cheers MM
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@ lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi <kictanet-bounces%2Bmureithi>= summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.k e] On Behalf Of Walubengo J Sent: 05 June 2009 07:48 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the problem being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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MM, I like your point. We should have a very strong basis for the incentive scheme that we create for BPOs. Mauritius abolished their incentives on the basis that the country did not benefit significantly from them. This did not stop the inflow of investment. The question is, how critical are incentives to attractiveness as a BPO destination? My humble submission is that attractiveness is a balanced of many factors and it should not be surprising that one can be attractive even without "incentives" as most people understand them. tm On Fri, 2009-06-05 at 09:34 +0300, muriuki mureithi wrote:
Hi Walu
I agree that incentives for a young industry is necessary we need to think through the basis that guides the incentives
Today's discussion begs the questions - why do the bpos need an incentive in the first place? Does the industry have barriers that ordinary business strategies cannot overcome and therefore need a push? What is the boundary between baby-sitting the industry and therefore weakening it and incentive framework for growth and for how long? And if we cross-subsidise with resources from other sectors, when will this sector pay back to that sector or support other sectors to also grow? Should we incentivise the sector because other countries are doing it?
Unfortunately I do not have the answer for these questions but my view is that we should be very clear on the issue of incentives. Our framework for incentives should not be driven by what other countries are doing and then copy them but rather quantify the non-business barriers to bpo business and then provide resources to overcome the challenge. These resources of course go beyond fiscal measures and the effort should translate the benefit to whatever sector funded the incentives.
Thus at the national level the cost/benefit of any such incentives should compete favourably with other national options. The treasury will be looking at the commitment set out in v2030 of 10000 jobs and ks10b and accept to forego tax revenue in the same measure. We start with low target and that limits the incentives the sector can get - a higher target should galvanise more incentives and higher prioritisation Cheers MM
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.k e] On Behalf Of Walubengo J Sent: 05 June 2009 07:48 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the problem being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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Listers, Incentives sometimes distort economic progress. If we were all compliant, the tax rate would be very low that one may not need any incentives. In Mauritious for example, they lowered taxes and removed incentives. Everybody was happy as the revenue authority collected more revenue and investors trooped there because of lower taxes. It may have been easier to do that in a small country but if we emphasized work ethics and honesty, we shall all benefit. In the absence of that, we must benchmark those countries with similar social, political and economic problems. I am thinking about Philipines and to some extent India. I especially need way forward on this to make suggestions to Trade as they develop new incentives for the Special Economic Zones. As for ownership, I take the most liberal approach. Ndemo.
MM,
I like your point. We should have a very strong basis for the incentive scheme that we create for BPOs. Mauritius abolished their incentives on the basis that the country did not benefit significantly from them. This did not stop the inflow of investment. The question is, how critical are incentives to attractiveness as a BPO destination? My humble submission is that attractiveness is a balanced of many factors and it should not be surprising that one can be attractive even without "incentives" as most people understand them. tm
On Fri, 2009-06-05 at 09:34 +0300, muriuki mureithi wrote:
Hi Walu
I agree that incentives for a young industry is necessary we need to think through the basis that guides the incentives
Today's discussion begs the questions - why do the bpos need an incentive in the first place? Does the industry have barriers that ordinary business strategies cannot overcome and therefore need a push? What is the boundary between baby-sitting the industry and therefore weakening it and incentive framework for growth and for how long? And if we cross-subsidise with resources from other sectors, when will this sector pay back to that sector or support other sectors to also grow? Should we incentivise the sector because other countries are doing it?
Unfortunately I do not have the answer for these questions but my view is that we should be very clear on the issue of incentives. Our framework for incentives should not be driven by what other countries are doing and then copy them but rather quantify the non-business barriers to bpo business and then provide resources to overcome the challenge. These resources of course go beyond fiscal measures and the effort should translate the benefit to whatever sector funded the incentives.
Thus at the national level the cost/benefit of any such incentives should compete favourably with other national options. The treasury will be looking at the commitment set out in v2030 of 10000 jobs and ks10b and accept to forego tax revenue in the same measure. We start with low target and that limits the incentives the sector can get - a higher target should galvanise more incentives and higher prioritisation Cheers MM
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.k e] On Behalf Of Walubengo J Sent: 05 June 2009 07:48 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the problem being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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Esteemed listeners, On the Issue of incentives, my submission would hinge on the objective of the incentives in the first place. The long term objective should be to make Kenya a compentitive arena for BPO outsourcing and related IT industry. Which means that once the term of the Incentive expires, the country should ramain equally competitve. My suggestion would therefore be to work towards making the environment most competitive. Scrap taxes , have the government foot part of the bill for access to quality and quantity Internet, streamline the process of setting up and simplify taxation. Regards, Areba On 6/5/09, bitange@jambo.co.ke <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Listers, Incentives sometimes distort economic progress. If we were all compliant, the tax rate would be very low that one may not need any incentives. In Mauritious for example, they lowered taxes and removed incentives. Everybody was happy as the revenue authority collected more revenue and investors trooped there because of lower taxes.
It may have been easier to do that in a small country but if we emphasized work ethics and honesty, we shall all benefit. In the absence of that, we must benchmark those countries with similar social, political and economic problems. I am thinking about Philipines and to some extent India. I especially need way forward on this to make suggestions to Trade as they develop new incentives for the Special Economic Zones.
As for ownership, I take the most liberal approach.
Ndemo.
MM,
I like your point. We should have a very strong basis for the incentive scheme that we create for BPOs. Mauritius abolished their incentives on the basis that the country did not benefit significantly from them. This did not stop the inflow of investment. The question is, how critical are incentives to attractiveness as a BPO destination? My humble submission is that attractiveness is a balanced of many factors and it should not be surprising that one can be attractive even without "incentives" as most people understand them. tm
On Fri, 2009-06-05 at 09:34 +0300, muriuki mureithi wrote:
Hi Walu
I agree that incentives for a young industry is necessary we need to think through the basis that guides the incentives
Today's discussion begs the questions - why do the bpos need an incentive in the first place? Does the industry have barriers that ordinary business strategies cannot overcome and therefore need a push? What is the boundary between baby-sitting the industry and therefore weakening it and incentive framework for growth and for how long? And if we cross-subsidise with resources from other sectors, when will this sector pay back to that sector or support other sectors to also grow? Should we incentivise the sector because other countries are doing it?
Unfortunately I do not have the answer for these questions but my view is that we should be very clear on the issue of incentives. Our framework for incentives should not be driven by what other countries are doing and then copy them but rather quantify the non-business barriers to bpo business and then provide resources to overcome the challenge. These resources of course go beyond fiscal measures and the effort should translate the benefit to whatever sector funded the incentives.
Thus at the national level the cost/benefit of any such incentives should compete favourably with other national options. The treasury will be looking at the commitment set out in v2030 of 10000 jobs and ks10b and accept to forego tax revenue in the same measure. We start with low target and that limits the incentives the sector can get - a higher target should galvanise more incentives and higher prioritisation Cheers MM
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.k e] On Behalf Of Walubengo J Sent: 05 June 2009 07:48 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the problem being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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-- If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas. George Bernard Shaw
Walu et. al., In answering the question, I believe incentives for incentives sake of course will not get us anywhere as a country. It is a natural question to ask why we need the incentives anyway? However, I do not believe incentives should be given simply because potential competitors are giving them. But we should look at our situation and ask is there something that is curtailing the industry from developing as it should? Could a little incentive spur the growth? If so what would it cost us to do it even if only for a little while (such as, the bandwidth subsidy). This is especially in an environment like the BPO industry (ICT sector by extension) where no one is waiting for us to play catch up and if we want to compete we must get the structures in place and/or encourage those who can. We have decided that this is a key pillar in our Vision 2030 but we are moving slower than anticipated. What do we need to get us from Point A to B in a realistic time frame. I totally agree with Dr Ndemo that we must benchmark with similar countries, Kenya is not an ‘island’. Nyaki ________________________________ From: "bitange@jambo.co.ke" <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: elizaslider@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Friday, June 5, 2009 1:30:43 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies Listers, Incentives sometimes distort economic progress. If we were all compliant, the tax rate would be very low that one may not need any incentives. In Mauritious for example, they lowered taxes and removed incentives. Everybody was happy as the revenue authority collected more revenue and investors trooped there because of lower taxes. It may have been easier to do that in a small country but if we emphasized work ethics and honesty, we shall all benefit. In the absence of that, we must benchmark those countries with similar social, political and economic problems. I am thinking about Philipines and to some extent India. I especially need way forward on this to make suggestions to Trade as they develop new incentives for the Special Economic Zones. As for ownership, I take the most liberal approach. Ndemo.
MM,
I like your point. We should have a very strong basis for the incentive scheme that we create for BPOs. Mauritius abolished their incentives on the basis that the country did not benefit significantly from them. This did not stop the inflow of investment. The question is, how critical are incentives to attractiveness as a BPO destination? My humble submission is that attractiveness is a balanced of many factors and it should not be surprising that one can be attractive even without "incentives" as most people understand them. tm
On Fri, 2009-06-05 at 09:34 +0300, muriuki mureithi wrote:
Hi Walu
I agree that incentives for a young industry is necessary we need to think through the basis that guides the incentives
Today's discussion begs the questions - why do the bpos need an incentive in the first place? Does the industry have barriers that ordinary business strategies cannot overcome and therefore need a push? What is the boundary between baby-sitting the industry and therefore weakening it and incentive framework for growth and for how long? And if we cross-subsidise with resources from other sectors, when will this sector pay back to that sector or support other sectors to also grow? Should we incentivise the sector because other countries are doing it?
Unfortunately I do not have the answer for these questions but my view is that we should be very clear on the issue of incentives. Our framework for incentives should not be driven by what other countries are doing and then copy them but rather quantify the non-business barriers to bpo business and then provide resources to overcome the challenge. These resources of course go beyond fiscal measures and the effort should translate the benefit to whatever sector funded the incentives.
Thus at the national level the cost/benefit of any such incentives should compete favourably with other national options. The treasury will be looking at the commitment set out in v2030 of 10000 jobs and ks10b and accept to forego tax revenue in the same measure. We start with low target and that limits the incentives the sector can get - a higher target should galvanise more incentives and higher prioritisation Cheers MM
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.k e] On Behalf Of Walubengo J Sent: 05 June 2009 07:48 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the problem being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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If i May from .UG I have followed the discussion queitly with keen interest. I think the idea of getting our local population into some sort of gainfull employment should always be the primary objective. However how we do this especially when we are attempting to use government funds to achieve this objective has to be a carefully thought out strategy with clear deliverables and exit strategy. On that note i totally object to any use of public funds to be used as operational expenditure especially in terms of bandwidth subsidy. Government should look at creative ways of facilitating BPO’s through skeems like interest free loans to BPO’s with clear repayment plans once profitability is achieved. This way we safeguard the meagre public funds available to our governments but also avoid public funds being spent on unsustainable business plans. The future of any structure is always set at the foundation level. There’s no doubt BPO in any format is going to be very key for the future of our economys by just the shear number of the population we can bring into the earning bracket and it’s not the size of the paycheck that makes the difference but the consistency since it creates money circulation. So i think we have to in a way drop our facination with getting jobs from abroad done in kenya or Uganda but look at how many local services we can outsource to create more jobs. Underlining rule on subsidies mainly being CAPEX and not OPEX. Regards From: kictanet-bounces+ntegeb=one2net.co.ug@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+ntegeb=one2net.co.ug@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Catherine Adeya Sent: 05 June 2009 14:57 To: ntegeb@one2net.co.ug Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies Walu et. al., In answering the question, I believe incentives for incentives sake of course will not get us anywhere as a country. It is a natural question to ask why we need the incentives anyway? However, I do not believe incentives should be given simply because potential competitors are giving them. But we should look at our situation and ask is there something that is curtailing the industry from developing as it should? Could a little incentive spur the growth? If so what would it cost us to do it even if only for a little while (such as, the bandwidth subsidy). This is especially in an environment like the BPO industry (ICT sector by extension) where no one is waiting for us to play catch up and if we want to compete we must get the structures in place and/or encourage those who can. We have decided that this is a key pillar in our Vision 2030 but we are moving slower than anticipated. What do we need to get us from Point A to B in a realistic time frame. I totally agree with Dr Ndemo that we must benchmark with similar countries, Kenya is not an ‘island’. Nyaki _____ From: "bitange@jambo.co.ke" <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: elizaslider@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Friday, June 5, 2009 1:30:43 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies Listers, Incentives sometimes distort economic progress. If we were all compliant, the tax rate would be very low that one may not need any incentives. In Mauritious for example, they lowered taxes and removed incentives. Everybody was happy as the revenue authority collected more revenue and investors trooped there because of lower taxes. It may have been easier to do that in a small country but if we emphasized work ethics and honesty, we shall all benefit. In the absence of that, we must benchmark those countries with similar social, political and economic problems. I am thinking about Philipines and to some extent India. I especially need way forward on this to make suggestions to Trade as they develop new incentives for the Special Economic Zones. As for ownership, I take the most liberal approach. Ndemo.
MM,
I like your point. We should have a very strong basis for the incentive scheme that we create for BPOs. Mauritius abolished their incentives on the basis that the country did not benefit significantly from them. This did not stop the inflow of investment. The question is, how critical are incentives to attractiveness as a BPO destination? My humble submission is that attractiveness is a balanced of many factors and it should not be surprising that one can be attractive even without "incentives" as most people understand them. tm
On Fri, 2009-06-05 at 09:34 +0300, muriuki mureithi wrote:
Hi Walu
I agree that incentives for a young industry is necessary we need to think through the basis that guides the incentives
Today's discussion begs the questions - why do the bpos need an incentive in the first place? Does the industry have barriers that ordinary business strategies cannot overcome and therefore need a push? What is the boundary between baby-sitting the industry and therefore weakening it and incentive framework for growth and for how long? And if we cross-subsidise with resources from other sectors, when will this sector pay back to that sector or support other sectors to also grow? Should we incentivise the sector because other countries are doing it?
Unfortunately I do not have the answer for these questions but my view is that we should be very clear on the issue of incentives. Our framework for incentives should not be driven by what other countries are doing and then copy them but rather quantify the non-business barriers to bpo business and then provide resources to overcome the challenge. These resources of course go beyond fiscal measures and the effort should translate the benefit to whatever sector funded the incentives.
Thus at the national level the cost/benefit of any such incentives should compete favourably with other national options. The treasury will be looking at the commitment set out in v2030 of 10000 jobs and ks10b and accept to forego tax revenue in the same measure. We start with low target and that limits the incentives the sector can get - a higher target should galvanise more incentives and higher prioritisation Cheers MM
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.k e] On Behalf Of Walubengo J Sent: 05 June 2009 07:48 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the problem being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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University of Nairobi Website: http://www.uonbi.ac.ke/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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You summarise it very well Badru. Indeed we have soo many "approach" problems. The actual people with potential and capability to deliver on outsourcing (aka innovative youth) are locked out of conversations deliberately. Investment in ICTs is "the brains" which we have plenty of locally but do the establishment recognise this and nurture this Human Capital? (I am not taking about a fancy conference or meeting here or there, rather tangible strategies lifting their innovative ICT entreprises.) I see new barriers and obstacles, fees etc everyday than 'enabling environment' "Outsourcing" discussions immediately and mistakenly become "call centre" debates, WB cash, conferences, "inspiration" trips - All while the ICT landscape is so vast.. Notable successes by youths left 'hacking' outsourcing on their own are emerging. regards, On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 12:57 PM, Badru Ntege<ntegeb@one2net.co.ug> wrote:
If i May from .UG
I have followed the discussion queitly with keen interest. I think the idea of getting our local population into some sort of gainfull employment should always be the primary objective. However how we do this especially when we are attempting to use government funds to achieve this objective has to be a carefully thought out strategy with clear deliverables and exit strategy. On that note i totally object to any use of public funds to be used as operational expenditure especially in terms of bandwidth subsidy.
Government should look at creative ways of facilitating BPO’s through skeems like interest free loans to BPO’s with clear repayment plans once profitability is achieved. This way we safeguard the meagre public funds available to our governments but also avoid public funds being spent on unsustainable business plans. The future of any structure is always set at the foundation level. There’s no doubt BPO in any format is going to be very key for the future of our economys by just the shear number of the population we can bring into the earning bracket and it’s not the size of the paycheck that makes the difference but the consistency since it creates money circulation.
So i think we have to in a way drop our facination with getting jobs from abroad done in kenya or Uganda but look at how many local services we can outsource to create more jobs.
Underlining rule on subsidies mainly being CAPEX and not OPEX.
Regards
Evidence-based thus example, http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/2009/05/27/ushahidi-wins-an-open-source-a... (see their iPhone application http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/2008/09/16/the-ushahidi-iphone-applicatio... regards, On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 2:11 PM, Gakuru Alex<alexgakuru.lists@gmail.com> wrote:
You summarise it very well Badru. Indeed we have soo many "approach" problems.
The actual people with potential and capability to deliver on outsourcing (aka innovative youth) are locked out of conversations deliberately. Investment in ICTs is "the brains" which we have plenty of locally but do the establishment recognise this and nurture this Human Capital? (I am not taking about a fancy conference or meeting here or there, rather tangible strategies lifting their innovative ICT entreprises.) I see new barriers and obstacles, fees etc everyday than 'enabling environment'
"Outsourcing" discussions immediately and mistakenly become "call centre" debates, WB cash, conferences, "inspiration" trips - All while the ICT landscape is so vast..
Notable successes by youths left 'hacking' outsourcing on their own are emerging.
regards,
On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 12:57 PM, Badru Ntege<ntegeb@one2net.co.ug> wrote:
If i May from .UG
I have followed the discussion queitly with keen interest. I think the idea of getting our local population into some sort of gainfull employment should always be the primary objective. However how we do this especially when we are attempting to use government funds to achieve this objective has to be a carefully thought out strategy with clear deliverables and exit strategy. On that note i totally object to any use of public funds to be used as operational expenditure especially in terms of bandwidth subsidy.
Government should look at creative ways of facilitating BPO’s through skeems like interest free loans to BPO’s with clear repayment plans once profitability is achieved. This way we safeguard the meagre public funds available to our governments but also avoid public funds being spent on unsustainable business plans. The future of any structure is always set at the foundation level. There’s no doubt BPO in any format is going to be very key for the future of our economys by just the shear number of the population we can bring into the earning bracket and it’s not the size of the paycheck that makes the difference but the consistency since it creates money circulation.
So i think we have to in a way drop our facination with getting jobs from abroad done in kenya or Uganda but look at how many local services we can outsource to create more jobs.
Underlining rule on subsidies mainly being CAPEX and not OPEX.
Regards
Dr.Ndemo, It is true incentives may tend to distort economic progress but this is especially depending on what the incentives are. I would like to see incentives for local SMEs in this industry. Certainly not subsidies per se as subsidies are for but a short duration. I would like to see incentives for any rural/small town based BPOs. Whether it is tax breaks or in what form is what we need to debate but it surely must be introduced so we see this industry flourishing out there. Despite poor power supply out there, if they have good incentives they will afford investing in solar.I need to pull out what India is doing for rural incentives and circulate here. Gilda Quoting bitange@jambo.co.ke:
Listers, Incentives sometimes distort economic progress. If we were all compliant, the tax rate would be very low that one may not need any incentives. In Mauritious for example, they lowered taxes and removed incentives. Everybody was happy as the revenue authority collected more revenue and investors trooped there because of lower taxes.
It may have been easier to do that in a small country but if we emphasized work ethics and honesty, we shall all benefit. In the absence of that, we must benchmark those countries with similar social, political and economic problems. I am thinking about Philipines and to some extent India. I especially need way forward on this to make suggestions to Trade as they develop new incentives for the Special Economic Zones.
As for ownership, I take the most liberal approach.
Ndemo.
MM,
I like your point. We should have a very strong basis for the incentive scheme that we create for BPOs. Mauritius abolished their incentives on the basis that the country did not benefit significantly from them. This did not stop the inflow of investment. The question is, how critical are incentives to attractiveness as a BPO destination? My humble submission is that attractiveness is a balanced of many factors and it should not be surprising that one can be attractive even without "incentives" as most people understand them. tm
On Fri, 2009-06-05 at 09:34 +0300, muriuki mureithi wrote:
Hi Walu
I agree that incentives for a young industry is necessary we need to think through the basis that guides the incentives
Today's discussion begs the questions - why do the bpos need an incentive in the first place? Does the industry have barriers that ordinary business strategies cannot overcome and therefore need a push? What is the boundary between baby-sitting the industry and therefore weakening it and incentive framework for growth and for how long? And if we cross-subsidise with resources from other sectors, when will this sector pay back to that sector or support other sectors to also grow? Should we incentivise the sector because other countries are doing it?
Unfortunately I do not have the answer for these questions but my view is that we should be very clear on the issue of incentives. Our framework for incentives should not be driven by what other countries are doing and then copy them but rather quantify the non-business barriers to bpo business and then provide resources to overcome the challenge. These resources of course go beyond fiscal measures and the effort should translate the benefit to whatever sector funded the incentives.
Thus at the national level the cost/benefit of any such incentives should compete favourably with other national options. The treasury will be looking at the commitment set out in v2030 of 10000 jobs and ks10b and accept to forego tax revenue in the same measure. We start with low target and that limits the incentives the sector can get - a higher target should galvanise more incentives and higher prioritisation Cheers MM
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.k
e] On Behalf Of Walubengo J Sent: 05 June 2009 07:48 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the problem being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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Thanks Prof This is the country I have in mind based on its sterling performance in bpo Our market entry strategy is so internationally focused that we forget the local market which should provide the foundation. International off-shoring is the high end in the bpo evolution model. Most of the incentives being discussed focus on international market while we have yet to cut our teeth with the local market. We will need to develop an evolution model then target whatever incentive necessary to our level of development in that model, for example, in-shoring need no incentives. It is part of us therefore national image etc doesn't count. Question - what incentive did bpo need to take the safaricom business? Cheers MM -----Original Message----- From: Prof. Waema [mailto:waema@uonbi.ac.ke] Sent: 05 June 2009 12:20 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions' Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies MM, I like your point. We should have a very strong basis for the incentive scheme that we create for BPOs. Mauritius abolished their incentives on the basis that the country did not benefit significantly from them. This did not stop the inflow of investment. The question is, how critical are incentives to attractiveness as a BPO destination? My humble submission is that attractiveness is a balanced of many factors and it should not be surprising that one can be attractive even without "incentives" as most people understand them. tm On Fri, 2009-06-05 at 09:34 +0300, muriuki mureithi wrote:
Hi Walu
I agree that incentives for a young industry is necessary we need to think through the basis that guides the incentives
Today's discussion begs the questions - why do the bpos need an incentive in the first place? Does the industry have barriers that ordinary business strategies cannot overcome and therefore need a push? What is the boundary between baby-sitting the industry and therefore weakening it and incentive framework for growth and for how long? And if we cross-subsidise with resources from other sectors, when will this sector pay back to that sector or support other sectors to also grow? Should we incentivise the sector because other countries are doing it?
Unfortunately I do not have the answer for these questions but my view is that we should be very clear on the issue of incentives. Our framework for incentives should not be driven by what other countries are doing and then copy them but rather quantify the non-business barriers to bpo business and then provide resources to overcome the challenge. These resources of course go beyond fiscal measures and the effort should translate the benefit to whatever sector funded the incentives.
Thus at the national level the cost/benefit of any such incentives should compete favourably with other national options. The treasury will be looking at the commitment set out in v2030 of 10000 jobs and ks10b and accept to forego tax revenue in the same measure. We start with low target and that limits the incentives the sector can get - a higher target should galvanise more incentives and higher prioritisation Cheers MM
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke
e] On Behalf Of Walubengo J Sent: 05 June 2009 07:48 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the
being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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[mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.k problem performance
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When talking about incentives, I feel a little jittery. Why? Incentive is synonymous with boosting an existing idea, business to realize goals and objectives set within a certain time frame. An idea that has no feasibility studies, cannot receive an incentive. Perhaps for us to determine whether BPO is worth an incentive, would be stats on BPOs in Kenya and their direct benefits to Kenyans in addressing social issues such as health etc. Then, if the stats give a gloomy picture, especially on the end result, it becomes easier to give incentives to those with a direct benefit to mwananchi. On 05/06/2009, muriuki mureithi <mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke> wrote:
Thanks Prof This is the country I have in mind based on its sterling performance in bpo
Our market entry strategy is so internationally focused that we forget the local market which should provide the foundation. International off-shoring is the high end in the bpo evolution model. Most of the incentives being discussed focus on international market while we have yet to cut our teeth with the local market. We will need to develop an evolution model then target whatever incentive necessary to our level of development in that model, for example, in-shoring need no incentives. It is part of us therefore national image etc doesn't count. Question - what incentive did bpo need to take the safaricom business?
Cheers MM
-----Original Message----- From: Prof. Waema [mailto:waema@uonbi.ac.ke] Sent: 05 June 2009 12:20 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions' Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
MM,
I like your point. We should have a very strong basis for the incentive scheme that we create for BPOs. Mauritius abolished their incentives on the basis that the country did not benefit significantly from them. This did not stop the inflow of investment. The question is, how critical are incentives to attractiveness as a BPO destination? My humble submission is that attractiveness is a balanced of many factors and it should not be surprising that one can be attractive even without "incentives" as most people understand them. tm
On Fri, 2009-06-05 at 09:34 +0300, muriuki mureithi wrote:
Hi Walu
I agree that incentives for a young industry is necessary we need to think through the basis that guides the incentives
Today's discussion begs the questions - why do the bpos need an incentive in the first place? Does the industry have barriers that ordinary business strategies cannot overcome and therefore need a push? What is the boundary between baby-sitting the industry and therefore weakening it and incentive framework for growth and for how long? And if we cross-subsidise with resources from other sectors, when will this sector pay back to that sector or support other sectors to also grow? Should we incentivise the sector because other countries are doing it?
Unfortunately I do not have the answer for these questions but my view is that we should be very clear on the issue of incentives. Our framework for incentives should not be driven by what other countries are doing and then copy them but rather quantify the non-business barriers to bpo business and then provide resources to overcome the challenge. These resources of course go beyond fiscal measures and the effort should translate the benefit to whatever sector funded the incentives.
Thus at the national level the cost/benefit of any such incentives should compete favourably with other national options. The treasury will be looking at the commitment set out in v2030 of 10000 jobs and ks10b and accept to forego tax revenue in the same measure. We start with low target and that limits the incentives the sector can get - a higher target should galvanise more incentives and higher prioritisation Cheers MM
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke
e] On Behalf Of Walubengo J Sent: 05 June 2009 07:48 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the
being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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-- Solomon Mburu P.O. Box 19343 - 00202 Nairobi Cell: (+254-0) 735 431041 Man is a gregarious animal and enjoys agreement as cows will graze all the same way to the side of a hill! AND It is better to die in dignity than in the ignomity of ambiguous generosity!
When talking about incentives, I feel a little jittery. Why? Incentive is synonymous with boosting an existing idea, business to realize goals and objectives set within a certain time frame. An idea that has no feasibility studies, cannot receive an incentive. Perhaps for us to determine whether BPO is worth an incentive, would be stats on BPOs in Kenya and their direct benefits to Kenyans in addressing social issues such as health etc. Then, if the stats give a gloomy picture, especially on the end result, it becomes easier to give incentives to those with a direct benefit to mwananchi. On 05/06/2009, Solomon Mburu <solo.mburu@gmail.com> wrote:
When talking about incentives, I feel a little jittery. Why? Incentive is synonymous with boosting an existing idea, business to realize goals and objectives set within a certain time frame. An idea that has no feasibility studies, cannot receive an incentive. Perhaps for us to determine whether BPO is worth an incentive, would be stats on BPOs in Kenya and their direct benefits to Kenyans in addressing social issues such as health etc. Then, if the stats give a gloomy picture, especially on the end result, it becomes easier to give incentives to those with a direct benefit to mwananchi.
On 05/06/2009, muriuki mureithi <mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke> wrote:
Thanks Prof This is the country I have in mind based on its sterling performance in bpo
Our market entry strategy is so internationally focused that we forget the local market which should provide the foundation. International off-shoring is the high end in the bpo evolution model. Most of the incentives being discussed focus on international market while we have yet to cut our teeth with the local market. We will need to develop an evolution model then target whatever incentive necessary to our level of development in that model, for example, in-shoring need no incentives. It is part of us therefore national image etc doesn't count. Question - what incentive did bpo need to take the safaricom business?
Cheers MM
-----Original Message----- From: Prof. Waema [mailto:waema@uonbi.ac.ke] Sent: 05 June 2009 12:20 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions' Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
MM,
I like your point. We should have a very strong basis for the incentive scheme that we create for BPOs. Mauritius abolished their incentives on the basis that the country did not benefit significantly from them. This did not stop the inflow of investment. The question is, how critical are incentives to attractiveness as a BPO destination? My humble submission is that attractiveness is a balanced of many factors and it should not be surprising that one can be attractive even without "incentives" as most people understand them. tm
On Fri, 2009-06-05 at 09:34 +0300, muriuki mureithi wrote:
Hi Walu
I agree that incentives for a young industry is necessary we need to think through the basis that guides the incentives
Today's discussion begs the questions - why do the bpos need an incentive in the first place? Does the industry have barriers that ordinary business strategies cannot overcome and therefore need a push? What is the boundary between baby-sitting the industry and therefore weakening it and incentive framework for growth and for how long? And if we cross-subsidise with resources from other sectors, when will this sector pay back to that sector or support other sectors to also grow? Should we incentivise the sector because other countries are doing it?
Unfortunately I do not have the answer for these questions but my view is that we should be very clear on the issue of incentives. Our framework for incentives should not be driven by what other countries are doing and then copy them but rather quantify the non-business barriers to bpo business and then provide resources to overcome the challenge. These resources of course go beyond fiscal measures and the effort should translate the benefit to whatever sector funded the incentives.
Thus at the national level the cost/benefit of any such incentives should compete favourably with other national options. The treasury will be looking at the commitment set out in v2030 of 10000 jobs and ks10b and accept to forego tax revenue in the same measure. We start with low target and that limits the incentives the sector can get - a higher target should galvanise more incentives and higher prioritisation Cheers MM
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke
e] On Behalf Of Walubengo J Sent: 05 June 2009 07:48 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 4 of 10- BPO Discussions, Govt Subsidies
-Dear Listers,
I must thank all for your insights over the last few days. I like the challenge that asked whether we are "over-regulating" an emerging market as the "answer" to the question on if we have legal and regulatory gaps. Listers are encouraged to challenge and not just answer the questions. Other arising issues included where we want to play within the BPO Value Chain, the Impact of the Political (in-)stability, the need to map our Data Protection laws to those in the target markets are just but some of the highlights I picked - and by all means this is NOT exhaustive as am still reading through the contributions.
But today we need to open the theme on Government subsidies. The Researchers found the S.Africa and India had elaborate subsidy provisions for the sector that included Tax Holidays and Exemptions, Investment Grants to BPO operators, Training Subsidies, One-stop shop for Corporate Company Registrations that could be 100% foreign owned, etc. The Researchers noted the unique Mauritius case which had similar incentives but eventually abolished most of them arguing that they were more beneficial to the Operators than to the Nation.
On the Kenyan front - other than the not so succesfull Govt Bandwidth subsidies for Operators, very little in terms of incentives was available to BPO Operators. It was noted that the BPO operators had to be within the EPZ in order to enjoy the subsidies other EPZ corporates operates - the
being that most BPO operaters exist outside the EPZ area. Whats more, BPO operators had to pay additional charges to be registered by the CCK (Regulator) and should be at least 20% locally owned.
Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?
Floor is open comments.
walu. Encl: Synthesis 2:- Subsidies and Incentives
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<<Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?>> There is need for incentives to match the positive externalities the firms bring to the country and in the communities they are located. For example, incentives may be designed to attract certain technologies, job skills, or development of specific capabilities. For these areas, in addition to tax incentives, one may consider provision of resources such as land, buildings, water, energy, even bandwidth at a concession to attract businesses in economically distressed areas -- i.e. away from Nairobi. But there needs to be a clear stipulation of when a firm is deemed to graduate to the next level and start paying full fees. That should also signal for removal of non-compete clauses, i.e. allow competition in the sub-sector if any were imposed as an incentive. Bakuli
Listers/Listeners, I am just wondering aloud (virtually), if the stimulus packages we saw go in to GM, AIG, Fannie and Freddie... in one way or another form part of Govt incentive (during crisis)?? I ask this because I do not know if BPOs in Kenya are making money presently. I also wonder if they are employing significantly. Secondly, specifically in the matter of BPO, can the 'experts' afford to look at this sector holding the world economy constant?? I think we have not been hit by the global financial crisis yet but I can tell you for free, its on its way...full steam ahead. It will crush the property market and also crush new businesses like BPO before they take off. Europeans and Americans are broke...currently...and they cannot even afford visiting Maasai Mara. Why should we rely on them giving us business in their current state?? OK...Look at it this other way, since Safaricom launched M-Pesa and started 'in-sourcing' money transfer services mid 2007, we can hypothesize that there are at least 5,000 M-pesa agents with maybe 20 outlets on average each manned by at least 1 man or woman. In other words, at least 100,000 jobs have been created indirectly by this one act which is not even the core business of Safaricom. If all Banks in Kenya had out-sourced money transfer services, would they have employed such a humongous number??? This in my opinion is solid. Does not rely on opinion in Europe and has branded itself without any Government incentives. If this was our benchmark, then to hell with incentives and maybe embrace Business Process In-sourcing.. On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Luvisia Bakuli<luvisia.bakuli@gmail.com> wrote:
<<Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?>>
There is need for incentives to match the positive externalities the firms bring to the country and in the communities they are located. For example, incentives may be designed to attract certain technologies, job skills, or development of specific capabilities. For these areas, in addition to tax incentives, one may consider provision of resources such as land, buildings, water, energy, even bandwidth at a concession to attract businesses in economically distressed areas -- i.e. away from Nairobi.
But there needs to be a clear stipulation of when a firm is deemed to graduate to the next level and start paying full fees. That should also signal for removal of non-compete clauses, i.e. allow competition in the sub-sector if any were imposed as an incentive.
Bakuli
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Bill, Your comments make great sense. There is however another school of thought that as the crunch gets worse, even those companies who saw no need to outsource are looking for more affordable means to survive. It is kind of a chicken and egg scenario. Then there are the big boys whose sales are down so they are scaling down across the board. Gilda Quoting Bill Kagai <billkagai@gmail.com>:
Listers/Listeners,
I am just wondering aloud (virtually), if the stimulus packages we saw go in to GM, AIG, Fannie and Freddie... in one way or another form part of Govt incentive (during crisis)?? I ask this because I do not know if BPOs in Kenya are making money presently. I also wonder if they are employing significantly. Secondly, specifically in the matter of BPO, can the 'experts' afford to look at this sector holding the world economy constant?? I think we have not been hit by the global financial crisis yet but I can tell you for free, its on its way...full steam ahead. It will crush the property market and also crush new businesses like BPO before they take off. Europeans and Americans are broke...currently...and they cannot even afford visiting Maasai Mara. Why should we rely on them giving us business in their current state??
OK...Look at it this other way, since Safaricom launched M-Pesa and started 'in-sourcing' money transfer services mid 2007, we can hypothesize that there are at least 5,000 M-pesa agents with maybe 20 outlets on average each manned by at least 1 man or woman. In other words, at least 100,000 jobs have been created indirectly by this one act which is not even the core business of Safaricom. If all Banks in Kenya had out-sourced money transfer services, would they have employed such a humongous number??? This in my opinion is solid. Does not rely on opinion in Europe and has branded itself without any Government incentives. If this was our benchmark, then to hell with incentives and maybe embrace Business Process In-sourcing..
On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Luvisia Bakuli<luvisia.bakuli@gmail.com> wrote:
<<Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?>>
There is need for incentives to match the positive externalities the firms bring to the country and in the communities they are located. For example, incentives may be designed to attract certain technologies, job skills, or development of specific capabilities. For these areas, in addition to tax incentives, one may consider provision of resources such as land, buildings, water, energy, even bandwidth at a concession to attract businesses in economically distressed areas -- i.e. away from Nairobi.
But there needs to be a clear stipulation of when a firm is deemed to graduate to the next level and start paying full fees. That should also signal for removal of non-compete clauses, i.e. allow competition in the sub-sector if any were imposed as an incentive.
Bakuli
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Bill, Your comments make great sense. There is however another school of thought that as the crunch gets worse, even those companies who saw no need to outsource are looking for more affordable means to survive. It is kind of a chicken and egg scenario. Then there are the big boys whose sales are down so they are scaling down across the board. Gilda Quoting Bill Kagai <billkagai@gmail.com>:
Listers/Listeners,
I am just wondering aloud (virtually), if the stimulus packages we saw go in to GM, AIG, Fannie and Freddie... in one way or another form part of Govt incentive (during crisis)?? I ask this because I do not know if BPOs in Kenya are making money presently. I also wonder if they are employing significantly. Secondly, specifically in the matter of BPO, can the 'experts' afford to look at this sector holding the world economy constant?? I think we have not been hit by the global financial crisis yet but I can tell you for free, its on its way...full steam ahead. It will crush the property market and also crush new businesses like BPO before they take off. Europeans and Americans are broke...currently...and they cannot even afford visiting Maasai Mara. Why should we rely on them giving us business in their current state??
OK...Look at it this other way, since Safaricom launched M-Pesa and started 'in-sourcing' money transfer services mid 2007, we can hypothesize that there are at least 5,000 M-pesa agents with maybe 20 outlets on average each manned by at least 1 man or woman. In other words, at least 100,000 jobs have been created indirectly by this one act which is not even the core business of Safaricom. If all Banks in Kenya had out-sourced money transfer services, would they have employed such a humongous number??? This in my opinion is solid. Does not rely on opinion in Europe and has branded itself without any Government incentives. If this was our benchmark, then to hell with incentives and maybe embrace Business Process In-sourcing..
On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Luvisia Bakuli<luvisia.bakuli@gmail.com> wrote:
<<Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?>>
There is need for incentives to match the positive externalities the firms bring to the country and in the communities they are located. For example, incentives may be designed to attract certain technologies, job skills, or development of specific capabilities. For these areas, in addition to tax incentives, one may consider provision of resources such as land, buildings, water, energy, even bandwidth at a concession to attract businesses in economically distressed areas -- i.e. away from Nairobi.
But there needs to be a clear stipulation of when a firm is deemed to graduate to the next level and start paying full fees. That should also signal for removal of non-compete clauses, i.e. allow competition in the sub-sector if any were imposed as an incentive.
Bakuli
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The current economic crisis is providing an opportunity to rethink our way of doing business. The creative destruction that was mentioned earlier could actually come from the government. What if the government gave those with proven BPO services the incentive to spin-off and set up multiple centres across the country. Their rewards could be a mixture of tax breaks and a two-year monopoly on government contracts such as the one Bw. PS mentioned in the judiciary. The destructive part is that the government will have to let go some of its employees whose jobs are outsourced. DBL On Fri, 2009-06-05 at 20:29 +0300, godera@skyweb.co.ke wrote:
Bill,
Your comments make great sense. There is however another school of thought that as the crunch gets worse, even those companies who saw no need to outsource are looking for more affordable means to survive. It is kind of a chicken and egg scenario. Then there are the big boys whose sales are down so they are scaling down across the board.
Gilda Quoting Bill Kagai <billkagai@gmail.com>:
Listers/Listeners,
I am just wondering aloud (virtually), if the stimulus packages we saw go in to GM, AIG, Fannie and Freddie... in one way or another form part of Govt incentive (during crisis)?? I ask this because I do not know if BPOs in Kenya are making money presently. I also wonder if they are employing significantly. Secondly, specifically in the matter of BPO, can the 'experts' afford to look at this sector holding the world economy constant?? I think we have not been hit by the global financial crisis yet but I can tell you for free, its on its way...full steam ahead. It will crush the property market and also crush new businesses like BPO before they take off. Europeans and Americans are broke...currently...and they cannot even afford visiting Maasai Mara. Why should we rely on them giving us business in their current state??
OK...Look at it this other way, since Safaricom launched M-Pesa and started 'in-sourcing' money transfer services mid 2007, we can hypothesize that there are at least 5,000 M-pesa agents with maybe 20 outlets on average each manned by at least 1 man or woman. In other words, at least 100,000 jobs have been created indirectly by this one act which is not even the core business of Safaricom. If all Banks in Kenya had out-sourced money transfer services, would they have employed such a humongous number??? This in my opinion is solid. Does not rely on opinion in Europe and has branded itself without any Government incentives. If this was our benchmark, then to hell with incentives and maybe embrace Business Process In-sourcing..
On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Luvisia Bakuli<luvisia.bakuli@gmail.com> wrote:
<<Qtn6: What incentives / subsidies should the government provide to BPO operators? What of the clause requiring 20% Local shareholding in foreign companies - is it prohibitive or helpful?>>
There is need for incentives to match the positive externalities the firms bring to the country and in the communities they are located. For example, incentives may be designed to attract certain technologies, job skills, or development of specific capabilities. For these areas, in addition to tax incentives, one may consider provision of resources such as land, buildings, water, energy, even bandwidth at a concession to attract businesses in economically distressed areas -- i.e. away from Nairobi.
But there needs to be a clear stipulation of when a firm is deemed to graduate to the next level and start paying full fees. That should also signal for removal of non-compete clauses, i.e. allow competition in the sub-sector if any were imposed as an incentive.
Bakuli
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- Day 7 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues - Morning all, Walu has done a fantastic job moderating so far and now you are stuck with me for the next four days. Today’s theme is on Youth and Gender issues. It is obvious we have touched on a number of issues that focus on this theme in the last few days; however, it is still pertinent to address it as an exclusive issue. Some of you have wondered why we keep referring to S. Africa, Mauritius and India. I would like to re-emphasize that those are the countries where the research was conducted but views from other countries are welcome. The idea is not to compare Kenya per se but to bench-mark on our (or potential) competitors. Views based on other countries are very welcome, the researchers could not visit more countries due to funding constraints. It is useful to begin by noting that the researchers found that the unemployment rate (2008 est) was 40% in Kenya, 21.7% in S. Africa, 7.6% in Mauritius and 6.8% in India. The researchers also found that the minimum qualification for professional staff was a Bachelor’s degree in all four countries. However, the minimum qualification for operators/agents varied. In Kenya it was a certificate, diploma or degree depending on operation; in S. Africa it was Grade 12; Mauritius school certificate or below and in India it was a High school certificate. The common work related challenges include project management (especially meeting deadlines) and long hours. Some employees in Kenya complained about challenges with transportation. The detailed summary findings will be availed. Generally there were more women in call centres than male but more males in the professional cadre. The youth are mostly found in the agent/operator jobs. The following are some country specific issues: 1. In, India there is the Equal Remuneration Act ensures that there is equal remuneration to men and women for same jobs. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law. NASSCOM has launched the Women in Leadership-IT Initiative to enhance participation of women in the workforce and ensure there are more women leaders in the IT-BPO industry. 2. In South Africa, there are 40% more females than males below 25 years working in the BPO sector. However, there are 7% more males than females above 25 years old. There is no gender or age based discrimination in the work place. There exists no law or policy that prefers youth from other groups of people in employment. 3. In Mauritius, there is no 24 hour work culture. In addition, the Labor Act prohibits employment of female employees in industrial undertakings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m; while youth are not allowed to work between between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Interestingly, there is clause that no person shall, except with the Permanent Secretary's written consent, transport a female worker or cause a female worker to be transported in a goods vehicle; any other vehicle, unless the vehicle is provided with an easy means of entering and alighting which does not involve climbing. 4. In Kenya we have the Employment Act which many of you know. This leads us to the following discussion questions: Discussion Q9: Are the Kenyan laws adequate to protect the youth and women from exploitation by BPO&O employers? Discussion Q. 10: The BPO sector is not seen as a long term source of employment for most employees. Most believe it is a stepping stone to other lucrative opportunities. What needs to be done to ensure the youth and women view the industry as attractive, especially in terms of quality of employment and career progression? Discussion Q11: Attrition and poaching are prevalent in most countries studied. What mechanisms should employers adopt to attract and retain their staff? Let the games (oops! Discussion) begin! Thanks Nyaki To be Encl: Synthesis 4 – Youth and Gender Issues
Dear All, As promised here are the summary findings attached. Secondly, why the deafening silence? I am beginning to feel paranoid thinking the problem maybe me :-) or was it that Walu's topics were easier to discuss? Hey, but we are always being told as a country we must address youth and gender issues.....the researchers have tried to do so....what says you? Nyaki ________________________________ From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com> To: elizaslider@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 8:11:35 AM Subject: [kictanet] Day 7 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues - Day 7 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues - Morning all, Walu has done a fantastic job moderating so far and now you are stuck with me for the next four days. Today’s theme is on Youth and Gender issues. It is obvious we have touched on a number of issues that focus on this theme in the last few days; however, it is still pertinent to address it as an exclusive issue. Some of you have wondered why we keep referring to S. Africa, Mauritius and India. I would like to re-emphasize that those are the countries where the research was conducted but views from other countries are welcome. The idea is not to compare Kenya per se but to bench-mark on our (or potential) competitors. Views based on other countries are very welcome, the researchers could not visit more countries due to funding constraints. It is useful to begin by noting that the researchers found that the unemployment rate (2008 est) was 40% in Kenya, 21.7% in S. Africa, 7.6% in Mauritius and 6.8% in India. The researchers also found that the minimum qualification for professional staff was a Bachelor’s degree in all four countries. However, the minimum qualification for operators/agents varied. In Kenya it was a certificate, diploma or degree depending on operation; in S. Africa it was Grade 12; Mauritius school certificate or below and in India it was a High school certificate. The common work related challenges include project management (especially meeting deadlines) and long hours. Some employees in Kenya complained about challenges with transportation. The detailed summary findings will be availed. Generally there were more women in call centres than male but more males in the professional cadre. The youth are mostly found in the agent/operator jobs. The following are some country specific issues: 1. In, India there is the Equal Remuneration Act ensures that there is equal remuneration to men and women for same jobs. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law. NASSCOM has launched the Women in Leadership-IT Initiative to enhance participation of women in the workforce and ensure there are more women leaders in the IT-BPO industry. 2. In South Africa, there are 40% more females than males below 25 years working in the BPO sector. However, there are 7% more males than females above 25 years old. There is no gender or age based discrimination in the work place. There exists no law or policy that prefers youth from other groups of people in employment. 3. In Mauritius, there is no 24 hour work culture. In addition, the Labor Act prohibits employment of female employees in industrial undertakings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m; while youth are not allowed to work between between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Interestingly, there is clause that no person shall, except with the Permanent Secretary's written consent, transport a female worker or cause a female worker to be transported in a goods vehicle; any other vehicle, unless the vehicle is provided with an easy means of entering and alighting which does not involve climbing. 4. In Kenya we have the Employment Act which many of you know. This leads us to the following discussion questions: Discussion Q9: Are the Kenyan laws adequate to protect the youth and women from exploitation by BPO&O employers? Discussion Q. 10: The BPO sector is not seen as a long term source of employment for most employees. Most believe it is a stepping stone to other lucrative opportunities. What needs to be done to ensure the youth and women view the industry as attractive, especially in terms of quality of employment and career progression? Discussion Q11: Attrition and poaching are prevalent in most countries studied. What mechanisms should employers adopt to attract and retain their staff? Let the games (oops! Discussion) begin! Thanks Nyaki To be Encl: Synthesis 4 – Youth and Gender Issues
I think there is a need to raise awareness among the youth, of the opportunities for career growth within the call centre industry. So far the discussion has been leaning on outsourced call centre/BPO operations. But the issue of career paths brings into play the opportunities for career growth presented by 'general' or 'wider' call centre industry which includes the captive call centres(in-house centres owned by the Corporates) e.g those run by the banks and the telco's. In the outsourced operation/BPO, Call Centre Agents can move up to Trainer, Call Centre Manager, Quality Assurance, Analyst, Workforce Management, Operations, General Management and various other functions within the call centre. In the captive call centres, call centre agents can grow in their careers and diversify and move into senior roles within other areas of the business, in the industry they are working in e.g. banking, telecoms, insurance, retail etc. I have seen this happen severally within the UK call centre industry. Peres Quoting Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>:
Dear All,
As promised here are the summary findings attached.
Secondly, why the deafening silence? I am beginning to feel paranoid thinking the problem maybe me :-) or was it that Walu's topics were easier to discuss? Hey, but we are always being told as a country we must address youth and gender issues.....the researchers have tried to do so....what says you?
Nyaki
________________________________ From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com> To: elizaslider@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 8:11:35 AM Subject: [kictanet] Day 7 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues
- Day 7 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues -
Morning all,
Walu has done a fantastic job moderating so far and now you are stuck with me for the next four days. Today?s theme is on Youth and Gender issues. It is obvious we have touched on a number of issues that focus on this theme in the last few days; however, it is still pertinent to address it as an exclusive issue. Some of you have wondered why we keep referring to S. Africa, Mauritius and India. I would like to re-emphasize that those are the countries where the research was conducted but views from other countries are welcome. The idea is not to compare Kenya per se but to bench-mark on our (or potential) competitors. Views based on other countries are very welcome, the researchers could not visit more countries due to funding constraints. It is useful to begin by noting that the researchers found that the unemployment rate (2008 est) was 40% in Kenya, 21.7% in S. Africa, 7.6% in Mauritius and 6.8% in India. The researchers also found that the minimum qualification for professional staff was a Bachelor?s degree in all four countries. However, the minimum qualification for operators/agents varied. In Kenya it was a certificate, diploma or degree depending on operation; in S. Africa it was Grade 12; Mauritius school certificate or below and in India it was a High school certificate. The common work related challenges include project management (especially meeting deadlines) and long hours. Some employees in Kenya complained about challenges with transportation. The detailed summary findings will be availed. Generally there were more women in call centres than male but more males in the professional cadre. The youth are mostly found in the agent/operator jobs. The following are some country specific issues: 1. In, India there is the Equal Remuneration Act ensures that there is equal remuneration to men and women for same jobs. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law. NASSCOM has launched the Women in Leadership-IT Initiative to enhance participation of women in the workforce and ensure there are more women leaders in the IT-BPO industry. 2. In South Africa, there are 40% more females than males below 25 years working in the BPO sector. However, there are 7% more males than females above 25 years old. There is no gender or age based discrimination in the work place. There exists no law or policy that prefers youth from other groups of people in employment. 3. In Mauritius, there is no 24 hour work culture. In addition, the Labor Act prohibits employment of female employees in industrial undertakings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m; while youth are not allowed to work between between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Interestingly, there is clause that no person shall, except with the Permanent Secretary's written consent, transport a female worker or cause a female worker to be transported in a goods vehicle; any other vehicle, unless the vehicle is provided with an easy means of entering and alighting which does not involve climbing. 4. In Kenya we have the Employment Act which many of you know. This leads us to the following discussion questions: Discussion Q9: Are the Kenyan laws adequate to protect the youth and women from exploitation by BPO&O employers? Discussion Q. 10: The BPO sector is not seen as a long term source of employment for most employees. Most believe it is a stepping stone to other lucrative opportunities. What needs to be done to ensure the youth and women view the industry as attractive, especially in terms of quality of employment and career progression? Discussion Q11: Attrition and poaching are prevalent in most countries studied. What mechanisms should employers adopt to attract and retain their staff? Let the games (oops! Discussion) begin! Thanks Nyaki To be Encl: Synthesis 4 ? Youth and Gender Issues
Nyaki, It would be nice to be reminded (in some cases informed) of the Kenyan labour law and implications within the context of BPO sector Edith ________________________________ From: kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Catherine Adeya Sent: 10 June 2009 08:12 To: Edith Adera Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 7 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues - Day 7 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues - Morning all, Walu has done a fantastic job moderating so far and now you are stuck with me for the next four days. Today's theme is on Youth and Gender issues. It is obvious we have touched on a number of issues that focus on this theme in the last few days; however, it is still pertinent to address it as an exclusive issue. Some of you have wondered why we keep referring to S. Africa, Mauritius and India. I would like to re-emphasize that those are the countries where the research was conducted but views from other countries are welcome. The idea is not to compare Kenya per se but to bench-mark on our (or potential) competitors. Views based on other countries are very welcome, the researchers could not visit more countries due to funding constraints. It is useful to begin by noting that the researchers found that the unemployment rate (2008 est) was 40% in Kenya, 21.7% in S. Africa, 7.6% in Mauritius and 6.8% in India. The researchers also found that the minimum qualification for professional staff was a Bachelor's degree in all four countries. However, the minimum qualification for operators/agents varied. In Kenya it was a certificate, diploma or degree depending on operation; in S. Africa it was Grade 12; Mauritius school certificate or below and in India it was a High school certificate. The common work related challenges include project management (especially meeting deadlines) and long hours. Some employees in Kenya complained about challenges with transportation. The detailed summary findings will be availed. Generally there were more women in call centres than male but more males in the professional cadre. The youth are mostly found in the agent/operator jobs. The following are some country specific issues: 1. In, India there is the Equal Remuneration Act ensures that there is equal remuneration to men and women for same jobs. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law. NASSCOM has launched the Women in Leadership-IT Initiative to enhance participation of women in the workforce and ensure there are more women leaders in the IT-BPO industry. 2. In South Africa, there are 40% more females than males below 25 years working in the BPO sector. However, there are 7% more males than females above 25 years old. There is no gender or age based discrimination in the work place. There exists no law or policy that prefers youth from other groups of people in employment. 3. In Mauritius, there is no 24 hour work culture. In addition, the Labor Act prohibits employment of female employees in industrial undertakings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m; while youth are not allowed to work between between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Interestingly, there is clause that no person shall, except with the Permanent Secretary's written consent, transport a female worker or cause a female worker to be transported in a goods vehicle; any other vehicle, unless the vehicle is provided with an easy means of entering and alighting which does not involve climbing. In Kenya we have the Employment Act which many of you know. This leads us to the following discussion questions: Discussion Q9: Are the Kenyan laws adequate to protect the youth and women from exploitation by BPO&O employers? Discussion Q. 10: The BPO sector is not seen as a long term source of employment for most employees. Most believe it is a stepping stone to other lucrative opportunities. What needs to be done to ensure the youth and women view the industry as attractive, especially in terms of quality of employment and career progression? Discussion Q11: Attrition and poaching are prevalent in most countries studied. What mechanisms should employers adopt to attract and retain their staff? Let the games (oops! Discussion) begin! Thanks Nyaki To be Encl: Synthesis 4 - Youth and Gender Issues
Thanks Edith some details are in the summary I attached and if there are any others listers please share. Thanks Nyaki ________________________________ From: Edith Adera <eadera@idrc.or.ke> To: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 10:46:43 PM Subject: RE: [kictanet] Day 7 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues Nyaki, It would be nice to be reminded (in some cases informed) of the Kenyan labour law and implications within the context of BPO sector Edith ________________________________ From:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Catherine Adeya Sent: 10 June 2009 08:12 To: Edith Adera Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 7 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues - Day 7 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues - Morning all, Walu has done a fantastic job moderating so far and now you are stuck with me for the next four days. Today’s theme is on Youth and Gender issues. It is obvious we have touched on a number of issues that focus on this theme in the last few days; however, it is still pertinent to address it as an exclusive issue. Some of you have wondered why we keep referring to S. Africa, Mauritius and India . I would like to re-emphasize that those are the countries where the research was conducted but views from other countries are welcome. The idea is not to compare Kenya per se but to bench-mark on our (or potential) competitors. Views based on other countries are very welcome, the researchers could not visit more countries due to funding constraints. It is useful to begin by noting that the researchers found that the unemployment rate (2008 est) was 40% in Kenya , 21.7% in S. Africa, 7.6% in Mauritius and 6.8% in India . The researchers also found that the minimum qualification for professional staff was a Bachelor’s degree in all four countries. However, the minimum qualification for operators/agents varied. In Kenya it was a certificate, diploma or degree depending on operation; in S. Africa it was Grade 12; Mauritius school certificate or below and in India it was a High school certificate. The common work related challenges include project management (especially meeting deadlines) and long hours. Some employees in Kenya complained about challenges with transportation. The detailed summary findings will be availed. Generally there were more women in call centres than male but more males in the professional cadre. The youth are mostly found in the agent/operator jobs. The following are some country specific issues: 1. In, India there is the Equal Remuneration Act ensures that there is equal remuneration to men and women for same jobs. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law. NASSCOM has launched the Women in Leadership-IT Initiative to enhance participation of women in the workforce and ensure there are more women leaders in the IT-BPO industry. 2. In South Africa , there are 40% more females than males below 25 years working in the BPO sector. However, there are 7% more males than females above 25 years old. There is no gender or age based discrimination in the work place. There exists no law or policy that prefers youth from other groups of people in employment. 3. In Mauritius , there is no 24 hour work culture. In addition, the Labor Act prohibits employment of female employees in industrial undertakings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m; while youth are not allowed to work between between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Interestingly, there is clause that no person shall, except with the Permanent Secretary's written consent, transport a female worker or cause a female worker to be transported in a goods vehicle; any other vehicle, unless the vehicle is provided with an easy means of entering and alighting which does not involve climbing. In Kenya we have the Employment Act which many of you know. This leads us to the following discussion questions: Discussion Q9: Are the Kenyan laws adequate to protect the youth and women from exploitation by BPO&O employers? Discussion Q. 10: The BPO sector is not seen as a long term source of employment for most employees. Most believe it is a stepping stone to other lucrative opportunities. What needs to be done to ensure the youth and women view the industry as attractive, especially in terms of quality of employment and career progression? Discussion Q11: Attrition and poaching are prevalent in most countries studied. What mechanisms should employers adopt to attract and retain their staff? Let the games (oops! Discussion) begin! Thanks Nyaki To be Encl: Synthesis 4 – Youth and Gender Issues
Hi Listers, Of concern ofcourse is the current 3 month maternity leave plus annual leave. It initially appears good on the side of the women employees but has serious implications to to them as well. Carrying these costs is a pretty significant amount for employers and given that the BPO sector tends to employ quite a number of young women, this law may put young women at risk of not being employed in the large numbers that they would otherwise be within the sector. It does need to be reviewed. Can I hear the gender sensitive listers........ Gilda Odera Quoting Edith Adera <eadera@idrc.or.ke>:
Nyaki, It would be nice to be reminded (in some cases informed) of the Kenyan labour law and implications within the context of BPO sector Edith ________________________________ From: kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Catherine Adeya Sent: 10 June 2009 08:12 To: Edith Adera Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 7 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues
- Day 7 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues -
Morning all, Walu has done a fantastic job moderating so far and now you are stuck with me for the next four days. Today's theme is on Youth and Gender issues. It is obvious we have touched on a number of issues that focus on this theme in the last few days; however, it is still pertinent to address it as an exclusive issue. Some of you have wondered why we keep referring to S. Africa, Mauritius and India. I would like to re-emphasize that those are the countries where the research was conducted but views from other countries are welcome. The idea is not to compare Kenya per se but to bench-mark on our (or potential) competitors. Views based on other countries are very welcome, the researchers could not visit more countries due to funding constraints. It is useful to begin by noting that the researchers found that the unemployment rate (2008 est) was 40% in Kenya, 21.7% in S. Africa, 7.6% in Mauritius and 6.8% in India. The researchers also found that the minimum qualification for professional staff was a Bachelor's degree in all four countries. However, the minimum qualification for operators/agents varied. In Kenya it was a certificate, diploma or degree depending on operation; in S. Africa it was Grade 12; Mauritius school certificate or below and in India it was a High school certificate. The common work related challenges include project management (especially meeting deadlines) and long hours. Some employees in Kenya complained about challenges with transportation. The detailed summary findings will be availed. Generally there were more women in call centres than male but more males in the professional cadre. The youth are mostly found in the agent/operator jobs. The following are some country specific issues:
1. In, India there is the Equal Remuneration Act ensures that there is equal remuneration to men and women for same jobs. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law. NASSCOM has launched the Women in Leadership-IT Initiative to enhance participation of women in the workforce and ensure there are more women leaders in the IT-BPO industry. 2. In South Africa, there are 40% more females than males below 25 years working in the BPO sector. However, there are 7% more males than females above 25 years old. There is no gender or age based discrimination in the work place. There exists no law or policy that prefers youth from other groups of people in employment. 3. In Mauritius, there is no 24 hour work culture. In addition, the Labor Act prohibits employment of female employees in industrial undertakings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m; while youth are not allowed to work between between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Interestingly, there is clause that no person shall, except with the Permanent Secretary's written consent, transport a female worker or cause a female worker to be transported in a goods vehicle; any other vehicle, unless the vehicle is provided with an easy means of entering and alighting which does not involve climbing. In Kenya we have the Employment Act which many of you know. This leads us to the following discussion questions: Discussion Q9: Are the Kenyan laws adequate to protect the youth and women from exploitation by BPO&O employers? Discussion Q. 10: The BPO sector is not seen as a long term source of employment for most employees. Most believe it is a stepping stone to other lucrative opportunities. What needs to be done to ensure the youth and women view the industry as attractive, especially in terms of quality of employment and career progression? Discussion Q11: Attrition and poaching are prevalent in most countries studied. What mechanisms should employers adopt to attract and retain their staff? Let the games (oops! Discussion) begin! Thanks Nyaki To be Encl: Synthesis 4 - Youth and Gender Issues
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- Day 8 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues Continued - It is a few minutes past midnight now so let me introduce Day 8 of the discussions. Today we continue with the theme of Youth and Gender issues. The following is part of the summary I sent yesterday (the detailed attachment I sent yesterday is re-attached). It is useful to begin by noting that the researchers found that the unemployment rate (2008 est) was 40% in Kenya, 21.7% in S. Africa, 7.6% in Mauritius and 6.8% in India. The researchers also found that the minimum qualification for professional staff was a Bachelor’s degree in all four countries. However, the minimum qualification for operators/agents varied. In Kenya it was a certificate, diploma or degree depending on operation; in S. Africa it was Grade 12; Mauritius school certificate or below and in India it was a High school certificate. The common work related challenges include project management (especially meeting deadlines) and long hours. Some employees in Kenya complained about challenges with transportation. The detailed summary findings will be availed. Generally there were more women in call centres than male but more males in the professional cadre. The youth are mostly found in the agent/operator jobs. The following are some country specific issues: 1. In, India there is the Equal Remuneration Act ensures that there is equal remuneration to men and women for same jobs. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law. NASSCOM has launched the Women in Leadership-IT Initiative to enhance participation of women in the workforce and ensure there are more women leaders in the IT-BPO industry. 2. In South Africa, there are 40% more females than males below 25 years working in the BPO sector. However, there are 7% more males than females above 25 years old. There is no gender or age based discrimination in the work place. There exists no law or policy that prefers youth from other groups of people in employment. 3. In Mauritius, there is no 24 hour work culture. In addition, the Labor Act prohibits employment of female employees in industrial undertakings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m; while youth are not allowed to work between between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Interestingly, there is clause that no person shall, except with the Permanent Secretary's written consent, transport a female worker or cause a female worker to be transported in a goods vehicle; any other vehicle, unless the vehicle is provided with an easy means of entering and alighting which does not involve climbing. 4. In Kenya we have the Employment Act which many of you know. This leads us to the following discussion questions: Discussion Q9: Are the Kenyan laws adequate to protect the youth and women from exploitation by BPO&O employers? Discussion Q. 10: The BPO sector is not seen as a long term source of employment for most employees. Most believe it is a stepping stone to other lucrative opportunities. What needs to be done to ensure the youth and women view the industry as attractive, especially in terms of quality of employment and career progression? Discussion Q11: Attrition and poaching are prevalent in most countries studied. What mechanisms should employers adopt to attract and retain their staff? Let the discussions continue as we move to another topic tomorrow. Thanks Nyaki
This looks like repetition of Day7 unless am missing something.....or..... confused..... On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 12:24 AM, Catherine Adeya<elizaslider@yahoo.com> wrote:
- Day 8 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues Continued -
It is a few minutes past midnight now so let me introduce Day 8 of the discussions.
Today we continue with the theme of Youth and Gender issues. The following is part of the summary I sent yesterday (the detailed attachment I sent yesterday is re-attached).
It is useful to begin by noting that the researchers found that the unemployment rate (2008 est) was 40% in Kenya, 21.7% in S. Africa, 7.6% in Mauritius and 6.8% in India. The researchers also found that the minimum qualification for professional staff was a Bachelor’s degree in all four countries. However, the minimum qualification for operators/agents varied. In Kenya it was a certificate, diploma or degree depending on operation; in S. Africa it was Grade 12; Mauritius school certificate or below and in India it was a High school certificate.
The common work related challenges include project management (especially meeting deadlines) and long hours. Some employees in Kenya complained about challenges with transportation. The detailed summary findings will be availed.
Generally there were more women in call centres than male but more males in the professional cadre. The youth are mostly found in the agent/operator jobs. The following are some country specific issues:
In, India there is the Equal Remuneration Act ensures that there is equal remuneration to men and women for same jobs. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law. NASSCOM has launched the Women in Leadership-IT Initiative to enhance participation of women in the workforce and ensure there are more women leaders in the IT-BPO industry. In South Africa, there are 40% more females than males below 25 years working in the BPO sector. However, there are 7% more males than females above 25 years old. There is no gender or age based discrimination in the work place. There exists no law or policy that prefers youth from other groups of people in employment. In Mauritius, there is no 24 hour work culture. In addition, the Labor Act prohibits employment of female employees in industrial undertakings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m; while youth are not allowed to work between between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Interestingly, there is clause that no person shall, except with the Permanent Secretary's written consent, transport a female worker or cause a female worker to be transported in a goods vehicle; any other vehicle, unless the vehicle is provided with an easy means of entering and alighting which does not involve climbing.
4. In Kenya we have the Employment Act which many of you know.
This leads us to the following discussion questions:
Discussion Q9: Are the Kenyan laws adequate to protect the youth and women from exploitation by BPO&O employers?
Discussion Q. 10: The BPO sector is not seen as a long term source of employment for most employees. Most believe it is a stepping stone to other lucrative opportunities. What needs to be done to ensure the youth and women view the industry as attractive, especially in terms of quality of employment and career progression?
Discussion Q11: Attrition and poaching are prevalent in most countries studied. What mechanisms should employers adopt to attract and retain their staff?
Let the discussions continue as we move to another topic tomorrow.
Thanks
Nyaki
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Nyaki, I got that very same feeling that day 8 intro is a repeat of day 7's intro... might be a time zone issue ;-) Wainaina On 6/11/09, Bill Kagai <billkagai@gmail.com> wrote:
This looks like repetition of Day7 unless am missing something.....or..... confused.....
On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 12:24 AM, Catherine Adeya<elizaslider@yahoo.com> wrote:
- Day 8 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues Continued -
It is a few minutes past midnight now so let me introduce Day 8 of the discussions.
Today we continue with the theme of Youth and Gender issues. The following is part of the summary I sent yesterday (the detailed attachment I sent yesterday is re-attached).
It is useful to begin by noting that the researchers found that the unemployment rate (2008 est) was 40% in Kenya, 21.7% in S. Africa, 7.6% in Mauritius and 6.8% in India. The researchers also found that the minimum qualification for professional staff was a Bachelor’s degree in all four countries. However, the minimum qualification for operators/agents varied. In Kenya it was a certificate, diploma or degree depending on operation; in S. Africa it was Grade 12; Mauritius school certificate or below and in India it was a High school certificate.
The common work related challenges include project management (especially meeting deadlines) and long hours. Some employees in Kenya complained about challenges with transportation. The detailed summary findings will be availed.
Generally there were more women in call centres than male but more males in the professional cadre. The youth are mostly found in the agent/operator jobs. The following are some country specific issues:
In, India there is the Equal Remuneration Act ensures that there is equal remuneration to men and women for same jobs. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law. NASSCOM has launched the Women in Leadership-IT Initiative to enhance participation of women in the workforce and ensure there are more women leaders in the IT-BPO industry. In South Africa, there are 40% more females than males below 25 years working in the BPO sector. However, there are 7% more males than females above 25 years old. There is no gender or age based discrimination in the work place. There exists no law or policy that prefers youth from other groups of people in employment. In Mauritius, there is no 24 hour work culture. In addition, the Labor Act prohibits employment of female employees in industrial undertakings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m; while youth are not allowed to work between between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Interestingly, there is clause that no person shall, except with the Permanent Secretary's written consent, transport a female worker or cause a female worker to be transported in a goods vehicle; any other vehicle, unless the vehicle is provided with an easy means of entering and alighting which does not involve climbing.
4. In Kenya we have the Employment Act which many of you know.
This leads us to the following discussion questions:
Discussion Q9: Are the Kenyan laws adequate to protect the youth and women from exploitation by BPO&O employers?
Discussion Q. 10: The BPO sector is not seen as a long term source of employment for most employees. Most believe it is a stepping stone to other lucrative opportunities. What needs to be done to ensure the youth and women view the industry as attractive, especially in terms of quality of employment and career progression?
Discussion Q11: Attrition and poaching are prevalent in most countries studied. What mechanisms should employers adopt to attract and retain their staff?
Let the discussions continue as we move to another topic tomorrow.
Thanks
Nyaki
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Nyaki, I see deeper issues here than the human resource issues we touched on earlier which mainly focused on skill sets etc, so I don't think it's a repetition as such, but providing further insights into the gender differentials and youth issues within the work place - some of which touch on skill sets. * Given the data and observations you have made, it would have been nice to unpack the gender issues (and youth issues) observed within the Kenyan BPO industry. For example, were there cases where there were gender differentials in remuneration for the same job? If so, it would be worth Kenya legislating like India, if this piece of legislation does not exist "In India, there is the Equal Remuneration Act passed in 1976, providing for the payment of equal remuneration to men and women workers for same or similar nature of work. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law". * BPO jobs are sometime referred to as "sweat jobs" where both gender are exploited without much quality in the type of job they are undertaking, the conditions under which they work, transportation during night duty, cases of insecurity and how it affects both gender etc etc. what were the observations in Kenya? And were there any gender differentials w.r.t these issues? Could the approach used by Mauritius which has prohibited night shifts for youth and women be the way to go? - though I think this is extreme - could Kenya adopt some variation of this or legislate some minimum level of protection and safe transition of staff during night hours, maximum work time etc. Does our current labour law really address some of these fairly BPO unique labour issues? * You mention that females tend to occupy lower jobs compared to their male counterparts, I wonder whether in Kenya we should not consider Mauritius strategy of affirmative action which ensures equity in professional level jobs and that training should be provided to both gender to ensure upward mobility is enjoyed by both. I dare say, affirmative action to ensure women do not only occupy low-level call centre jobs but that we can have more women in the professional ranks. Edith ________________________________ From: kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Catherine Adeya Sent: 11 June 2009 00:25 To: Edith Adera Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 8 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues - Day 8 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues Continued - It is a few minutes past midnight now so let me introduce Day 8 of the discussions. Today we continue with the theme of Youth and Gender issues. The following is part of the summary I sent yesterday (the detailed attachment I sent yesterday is re-attached). It is useful to begin by noting that the researchers found that the unemployment rate (2008 est) was 40% in Kenya, 21.7% in S. Africa, 7.6% in Mauritius and 6.8% in India. The researchers also found that the minimum qualification for professional staff was a Bachelor's degree in all four countries. However, the minimum qualification for operators/agents varied. In Kenya it was a certificate, diploma or degree depending on operation; in S. Africa it was Grade 12; Mauritius school certificate or below and in India it was a High school certificate. The common work related challenges include project management (especially meeting deadlines) and long hours. Some employees in Kenya complained about challenges with transportation. The detailed summary findings will be availed. Generally there were more women in call centres than male but more males in the professional cadre. The youth are mostly found in the agent/operator jobs. The following are some country specific issues: 1. In, India there is the Equal Remuneration Act ensures that there is equal remuneration to men and women for same jobs. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law. NASSCOM has launched the Women in Leadership-IT Initiative to enhance participation of women in the workforce and ensure there are more women leaders in the IT-BPO industry. 2. In South Africa, there are 40% more females than males below 25 years working in the BPO sector. However, there are 7% more males than females above 25 years old. There is no gender or age based discrimination in the work place. There exists no law or policy that prefers youth from other groups of people in employment. 3. In Mauritius, there is no 24 hour work culture. In addition, the Labor Act prohibits employment of female employees in industrial undertakings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m; while youth are not allowed to work between between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Interestingly, there is clause that no person shall, except with the Permanent Secretary's written consent, transport a female worker or cause a female worker to be transported in a goods vehicle; any other vehicle, unless the vehicle is provided with an easy means of entering and alighting which does not involve climbing. 4. In Kenya we have the Employment Act which many of you know. This leads us to the following discussion questions: Discussion Q9: Are the Kenyan laws adequate to protect the youth and women from exploitation by BPO&O employers? Discussion Q. 10: The BPO sector is not seen as a long term source of employment for most employees. Most believe it is a stepping stone to other lucrative opportunities. What needs to be done to ensure the youth and women view the industry as attractive, especially in terms of quality of employment and career progression? Discussion Q11: Attrition and poaching are prevalent in most countries studied. What mechanisms should employers adopt to attract and retain their staff? Let the discussions continue as we move to another topic tomorrow. Thanks Nyaki
Edith, Very insightful, I believe the research team are reading this and will take it into consideration as your analysis is useful. Thanks Nyaki ________________________________ From: Edith Adera <eadera@idrc.or.ke> To: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 1:04:31 AM Subject: RE: [kictanet] Day 8 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues Nyaki, I see deeper issues here than the human resource issues we touched on earlier which mainly focused on skill sets etc, so I don’t think it’s a repetition as such, but providing further insights into the gender differentials and youth issues within the work place – some of which touch on skill sets. * Given the data and observations you have made, it would have been nice to unpack the gender issues (and youth issues) observed within the Kenyan BPO industry. For example, were there cases where there were gender differentials in remuneration for the same job? If so, it would be worth Kenya legislating like India, if this piece of legislation does not exist “In India, there is the Equal Remuneration Act passed in 1976, providing for the payment of equal remuneration to men and women workers for same or similar nature of work. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law”. * BPO jobs are sometime referred to as “sweat jobs” where both gender are exploited without much quality in the type of job they are undertaking, the conditions under which they work, transportation during night duty, cases of insecurity and how it affects both gender etc etc. what were the observations in Kenya ? And were there any gender differentials w.r.t these issues? Could the approach used by Mauritius which has prohibited night shifts for youth and women be the way to go? – though I think this is extreme - could Kenya adopt some variation of this or legislate some minimum level of protection and safe transition of staff during night hours, maximum work time etc. Does our current labour law really address some of these fairly BPO unique labour issues? * You mention that females tend to occupy lower jobs compared to their male counterparts, I wonder whether in Kenya we should not consider Mauritius strategy of affirmative action which ensures equity in professional level jobs and that training should be provided to both gender to ensure upward mobility is enjoyed by both. I dare say, affirmative action to ensure women do not only occupy low-level call centre jobs but that we can have more women in the professional ranks. Edith ________________________________ From:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Catherine Adeya Sent: 11 June 2009 00:25 To: Edith Adera Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 8 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues - Day 8 of 10- BPO Discussions, Youth and Gender Issues Continued - It is a few minutes past midnight now so let me introduce Day 8 of the discussions. Today we continue with the theme of Youth and Gender issues. The following is part of the summary I sent yesterday (the detailed attachment I sent yesterday is re-attached). It is useful to begin by noting that the researchers found that the unemployment rate (2008 est) was 40% in Kenya , 21.7% in S. Africa, 7.6% in Mauritius and 6.8% in India . The researchers also found that the minimum qualification for professional staff was a Bachelor’s degree in all four countries. However, the minimum qualification for operators/agents varied. In Kenya it was a certificate, diploma or degree depending on operation; in S. Africa it was Grade 12; Mauritius school certificate or below and in India it was a High school certificate. The common work related challenges include project management (especially meeting deadlines) and long hours. Some employees in Kenya complained about challenges with transportation. The detailed summary findings will be availed. Generally there were more women in call centres than male but more males in the professional cadre. The youth are mostly found in the agent/operator jobs. The following are some country specific issues: 1. In, India there is the Equal Remuneration Act ensures that there is equal remuneration to men and women for same jobs. Under this law, no discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by the law. NASSCOM has launched the Women in Leadership-IT Initiative to enhance participation of women in the workforce and ensure there are more women leaders in the IT-BPO industry. 2. In South Africa , there are 40% more females than males below 25 years working in the BPO sector. However, there are 7% more males than females above 25 years old. There is no gender or age based discrimination in the work place. There exists no law or policy that prefers youth from other groups of people in employment. 3. In Mauritius , there is no 24 hour work culture. In addition, the Labor Act prohibits employment of female employees in industrial undertakings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m; while youth are not allowed to work between between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Interestingly, there is clause that no person shall, except with the Permanent Secretary's written consent, transport a female worker or cause a female worker to be transported in a goods vehicle; any other vehicle, unless the vehicle is provided with an easy means of entering and alighting which does not involve climbing. 4. In Kenya we have the Employment Act which many of you know. This leads us to the following discussion questions: Discussion Q9: Are the Kenyan laws adequate to protect the youth and women from exploitation by BPO&O employers? Discussion Q. 10: The BPO sector is not seen as a long term source of employment for most employees. Most believe it is a stepping stone to other lucrative opportunities. What needs to be done to ensure the youth and women view the industry as attractive, especially in terms of quality of employment and career progression? Discussion Q11: Attrition and poaching are prevalent in most countries studied. What mechanisms should employers adopt to attract and retain their staff? Let the discussions continue as we move to another topic tomorrow. Thanks Nyaki
- Day 9 of 10 - BPO Discussions, BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches My apologies about the bouncing emails yesterday, the issue is being addressed. As we close the youth and gender debate, I do recognize that some issues may be pending on this so feel free to address them but under the right subject header. I also noticed that there were queries about the labour laws and Employment Act and maybe we can revisit this at the right time. However, we have two days to discuss the final theme beginning today. This theme synthesizes the strengths that make South Africa, India, Mauritius and Kenya choice BPO destinations. It also synthesizes the countries’ weaknesses. Finally, the synthesis includes observations from the USA and UK as sources of outsourced work, the trends in BPO and the niches the selected countries have pursued or are likely to pursue. The following is a summary of the research findings; a more detailed summary is attached. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES The researchers found that some of India’s strengths include government championship, the government works closely with NASCCOM (National Association of Software Services Companies) and involves NASCCOM in all policy decision making regarding the industry. India generally has a large pool of science, technology and engineering graduates which has made it a preferred destination for high end knowledge process outsourcing. In addition, there are tax incentives; National Skills registry (NSR) to facilitate personnel background checks; and investors have single window clearance for License application. South Africa on the other hand also has clear government championship for the BPO sector evidenced by the fact that investors and potential vendors are wooed from the Office of the President. There is also commitment to regulatory changes when required. There is an effective marketing strategy (target marketing and perception management), which has made many in the world perceive South Africa to be politically and economically stable. There is world class connectivity; S. Africa has 10 international airports, an excellent road and railway network. Mauritiusstrengths include good ratings from the World Bank ‘Doing Business Indicators’ which ranks the country at position 24 for favourable investment climate and number 11 for protecting investors and 7 for starting a business. In addition, it is a multilingual country (with two European languages) so it is an attractive destination for both English and French speaking clients. Some of the key strengths that make Kenya a choice destination for outsourcing is that it is a good place to work and holiday (temperate weather and beautiful country). Indeed, many senior people working for bilateral or international organizations have preferred to live in Kenya after the end of their contracts. Kenya also has government championship of the BPO industry. The country is strategically located and a regional hub for communications and finance. Kenyans generally have a good English accent for English speaking clients. Weaknesses were also assessed in all four countries. In India, for example, there has/was an international backlash due to security breaches that made some companies pulled out of India. There is also the issue of high cost of electricity. Another factor is the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience especially for call centre work for international clients. In S. Africa the cost of operation is still high compared to other outsourcing destinations. Also, even though there are BPO specific incentives, investors are yet to take advantage of these because of the strict qualification criteria. In Mauritius some of the weaknesses highlighted were the negative perception of working in 24/7 environment and many Mauritians cannot imagine working at night. Secondly, Internet and mobile communication tariffs are still high despite liberalization and presence of the submarine cable. Finally, in Kenya, I will emphasize a little more, there is a perception in client countries thatKenya is not politically stable. It also appears that Kenya lacks an effective marketing strategy. Some believe that Kenya is sending the wrong people to woo investors. There is lack of coordination and perceived ‘bad blood’ between some of the key institutions and groups that represent this industry; this is also evident to client countries like in the UK. This is not helped with the soaring electricity costs combined with the high amount of power outages which has made the cost of doing business very high as companies have to invest in generators.Of course, the state of the road infrastructure is wanting and the issue of constant traffic jams causing loss of productive time. USA and UK: The attached summary has some analysis from the USA and UK which includes their preferred outsourcing destination. In the USA, the top ten (10) preferred outsourcing destinations, in order of preference are: 1. Rural or Small Town USA (via Indian Companies), 2. India, 3. Eastern & Central Europe, 4. UK & Ireland (areas of high unemployment), 5. South America, 6. Mexico, 7. Philippines, 8. Canada, 9. Russia and 10. Middle East. It can be noted that Africa does not feature. In the UK, the perceived best three destinations as voted during NOA’s 2008 (www.noa.co.uk.index.php/awrds ) annual awards: 1. Egypt, 2. Romania and 3. Philippines. NICHE AREAS Some of the proposed niche areas for the vendor countries are: India: The niche areas for India are a little hard to perceive as they were front-runners in the BPO industry amongst developing countries. Over time they have found that some of their niche areas are in remote ICT systems maintenance, software development, and numerical analysis for various companies.In addition, they have capitalized on their experience and historical advantage and are now outsourcing work (or assisting the client countries to outsource work) to destinations where they do not have the comparative advantage. A case in point is actuarial work to South Africa. South Africa: Great potential in the banking sector. South Africa also has excellent actuarial and insurance services. It is common to find people who may source work to India because it is cheaper but are now taking some of the actuarial work to South Africa as they will find the skill sets that they may not get as easily in India or Philippines. This trend may increase as they are willing to pay the optimum price for these skill sets not necessarily the cheapest price. Mauritius: Mauritius’s greatest niche comes from the fact that the country is generally multilingual in two European languages (English and French). Many of the current BPO work in developing countries are amongst English speakers and they definitely need contacts who can also work with their potential French clientele. Mauritius is a good destination for back office transcription and translation services. It may also be a good destination for front office work that needs translation (English-French). Kenya:Kenya appears to be an excellent destination for some types of back office work. These include financial services (accounting and payroll services) and legal work as there is a highly educated population in these areas. It can be argued that there may be an opportunity for front office (call centre work) as many say the Kenyan accent is neutral though there has to be training in this area to ensure there is standardization so Kenya can avoid many of India’s mistakes. There is clearly an opportunity for transcription and translation services (based on fact that multi-lingual workers are easy to find). Due to the predominance of the tourism and hospitality industries in the economy, customer service orientation is high amongst trained Kenyans. Discussion Q12.There are many institutions marketing Kenya and are not doing a good job of it and/or are not working from the same script. What institutional set up should we have for marketing Kenya for BPO&O and how can we improve the coordination and the similarity of the messages? Discussion Q13. Consider the following three examples. One, South Africa has many challenges, some of which, like security, are more serious than those for Kenya. However, many in the world perceive South Africa as a worthwhile destination in Africa. A lot of work has been done by the South African Government to create this perception. Two, India’s cost of electricity is as high and unreliable as Kenya’s. However, India is still the number one BPO destination. Three, there is the issue of the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience. Consequently, there are jobs that are going back on-shore to the client countries. Some of these clients are willing to outsource again to the right destination where accent will not be a major problem. This was confirmed in interviews in the UK. Given the strengths of Kenya, the opportunities available locally and abroad, and the lessons from other outsourcing destinations, what key marketing strategies should Kenya adopt? Discussion Q14. Given the findings reported here and the discussions that we have had here on KICTANET in the last two weeks, what niche(s) do you think Kenya should pursue? I know the Bugdet 2009-2010 issues may be upper most in your minds but let us focus on bringing this excellent 10 day discussion to fruition. I thank you in advance. Nyaki
Hi, Probably unrelated to the question asked, today I was struck by a question asked by a Strathmore University student on Louis Otieno Live on Citizen TV. The programme was on the budget and the student wanted to know the status of the business park that had been 'promised' in last years budget as a means of curbing youth unemployment. He expressed disappointment that even after a budgetary allocation, the 10,000 jobs that were to be created from the said business park are yet to be realised and wondered if the Government and other stakeholders were really sincere....Unfortunately, the Govt representative at the talk show was the Minister for Agriculture and he seemed to have no information... Grace Bomu. 2009/6/12 Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
- Day 9 of 10 - BPO Discussions, BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
My apologies about the bouncing emails yesterday, the issue is being addressed. As we close the youth and gender debate, I do recognize that some issues may be pending on this so feel free to address them but under the right subject header. I also noticed that there were queries about the labour laws and Employment Act and maybe we can revisit this at the right time.
However, we have two days to discuss the final theme beginning today. This theme synthesizes the strengths that make South Africa, India, Mauritius and Kenya choice BPO destinations. It also synthesizes the countries’ weaknesses. Finally, the synthesis includes observations from the USA and UK as sources of outsourced work, the trends in BPO and the niches the selected countries have pursued or are likely to pursue. The following is a summary of the research findings; a more detailed summary is attached.
*STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES*
The researchers found that some of *India*’s strengths include government championship, the government works closely with NASCCOM (National Association of Software Services Companies) and involves NASCCOM in all policy decision making regarding the industry. India generally has a large pool of science, technology and engineering graduates which has made it a preferred destination for high end knowledge process outsourcing. In addition, there are tax incentives; National Skills registry (NSR) to facilitate personnel background checks; and investors have single window clearance for License application. *South Africa* on the other hand also has clear government championship for the BPO sector evidenced by the fact that investors and potential vendors are wooed from the Office of the President. There is also commitment to regulatory changes when required. There is an effective marketing strategy (target marketing and perception management), which has made many in the world perceive South Africa to be politically and economically stable. There is world class connectivity; S. Africa has 10 international airports, an excellent road and railway network.
*Mauritius* strengths include good ratings from the World Bank ‘Doing Business Indicators’ which ranks the country at position 24 for favourable investment climate and number 11 for protecting investors and 7 for starting a business. In addition, it is a multilingual country (with two European languages) so it is an attractive destination for both English and French speaking clients. Some of the key strengths that make *Kenya* a choice destination for outsourcing is that it is a good place to work and holiday (temperate weather and beautiful country). Indeed, many senior people working for bilateral or international organizations have preferred to live in Kenya after the end of their contracts. Kenya also has government championship of the BPO industry. The country is strategically located and a regional hub for communications and finance. Kenyans generally have a good English accent for English speaking clients.
Weaknesses were also assessed in all four countries. In *India*, for example, there has/was an international backlash due to security breaches that made some companies pulled out of India. There is also the issue of high cost of electricity. Another factor is the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience especially for call centre work for international clients. In *S. Africa* the cost of operation is still high compared to other outsourcing destinations. Also, even though there are BPO specific incentives, investors are yet to take advantage of these because of the strict qualification criteria.
In *Mauritius *some of the weaknesses highlighted were the negative perception of working in 24/7 environment and many Mauritians cannot imagine working at night. Secondly, Internet and mobile communication tariffs are still high despite liberalization and presence of the submarine cable. Finally, in *Kenya*, I will emphasize a little more, there is a perception in client countries that Kenya is not politically stable. It also appears that Kenya lacks an effective marketing strategy. Some believe that Kenya is sending the wrong people to woo investors. There is lack of coordination and perceived ‘bad blood’ between some of the key institutions and groups that represent this industry; this is also evident to client countries like in the UK. This is not helped with the soaring electricity costs combined with the high amount of power outages which has made the cost of doing business very high as companies have to invest in generators. Of course, the state of the road infrastructure is wanting and the issue of constant traffic jams causing loss of productive time.* *
* *
*USA and UK*: The attached summary has some analysis from the USA and UK which includes their preferred outsourcing destination. In the USA, the top ten (10) preferred outsourcing destinations, in order of preference are: 1. Rural or Small Town USA (via Indian Companies), 2. India, 3. Eastern & Central Europe, 4. UK & Ireland (areas of high unemployment), 5. South America, 6. Mexico, 7. Philippines, 8. Canada, 9. Russia and 10. Middle East. It can be noted that Africa does not feature. In the UK, the perceived best three destinations as voted during NOA’s 2008 ( www.noa.co.uk.index.php/awrds ) annual awards: 1. Egypt, 2. Romania and 3. Philippines.
*NICHE AREAS***
Some of the proposed niche areas for the vendor countries are:
*India*: The niche areas for India are a little hard to perceive as they were front-runners in the BPO industry amongst developing countries. Over time they have found that some of their niche areas are in remote ICT systems maintenance, software development, and numerical analysis for various companies. In addition, they have capitalized on their experience and historical advantage and are now outsourcing work (or assisting the client countries to outsource work) to destinations where they do not have the comparative advantage. A case in point is actuarial work to South Africa.
*South Africa*: Great potential in the banking sector. South Africa also has excellent actuarial and insurance services. It is common to find people who may source work to India because it is cheaper but are now taking some of the actuarial work to South Africa as they will find the skill sets that they may not get as easily in India or Philippines. This trend may increase as they are willing to pay the optimum price for these skill sets not necessarily the cheapest price.
*Mauritius*: Mauritius’s greatest niche comes from the fact that the country is generally multilingual in two European languages (English and French). Many of the current BPO work in developing countries are amongst English speakers and they definitely need contacts who can also work with their potential French clientele. Mauritius is a good destination for back office transcription and translation services. It may also be a good destination for front office work that needs translation (English-French).
*Kenya:* Kenya appears to be an excellent destination for some types of back office work. These include financial services (accounting and payroll services) and legal work as there is a highly educated population in these areas. It can be argued that there may be an opportunity for front office (call centre work) as many say the Kenyan accent is neutral though there has to be training in this area to ensure there is standardization so Kenya can avoid many of India’s mistakes. There is clearly an opportunity for transcription and translation services (based on fact that multi-lingual workers are easy to find). Due to the predominance of the tourism and hospitality industries in the economy, customer service orientation is high amongst trained Kenyans.
*Discussion Q12.* There are many institutions marketing Kenya and are not doing a good job of it and/or are not working from the same script. What institutional set up should we have for marketing Kenya for BPO&O and how can we improve the coordination and the similarity of the messages?
*Discussion Q13*. Consider the following three examples. One, South Africa has many challenges, some of which, like security, are more serious than those for Kenya. However, many in the world perceive South Africa as a worthwhile destination in Africa. A lot of work has been done by the South African Government to create this perception. Two, India’s cost of electricity is as high and unreliable as Kenya’s. However, India is still the number one BPO destination. Three, there is the issue of the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience. Consequently, there are jobs that are going back on-shore to the client countries. Some of these clients are willing to outsource again to the right destination where accent will not be a major problem. This was confirmed in interviews in the UK. Given the strengths of Kenya, the opportunities available locally and abroad, and the lessons from other outsourcing destinations, what key marketing strategies should Kenya adopt?
*Discussion Q14*. Given the findings reported here and the discussions that we have had here on KICTANET in the last two weeks, what niche(s) do you think Kenya should pursue?
I know the Bugdet 2009-2010 issues may be upper most in your minds but let us focus on bringing this excellent 10 day discussion to fruition.
I thank you in advance.
Nyaki
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Grace, infact this fits well into the Day 8 discussions on Youth and Gender as it is a pertinent question. Anyone out there who can answer it but with the right subject header, that is Day 8 of BPO Discussions on Youth and Gender. Thanks Nyaki ________________________________ From: Grace Bomu <nmutungu@gmail.com> To: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 12:40:44 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 9 of 10- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches Hi, Probably unrelated to the question asked, today I was struck by a question asked by a Strathmore University student on Louis Otieno Live on Citizen TV. The programme was on the budget and the student wanted to know the status of the business park that had been 'promised' in last years budget as a means of curbing youth unemployment. He expressed disappointment that even after a budgetary allocation, the 10,000 jobs that were to be created from the said business park are yet to be realised and wondered if the Government and other stakeholders were really sincere....Unfortunately, the Govt representative at the talk show was the Minister for Agriculture and he seemed to have no information... Grace Bomu. 2009/6/12 Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com> - Day 9 of 10 - BPO Discussions, BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches My apologies about the bouncing emails yesterday, the issue is being addressed. As we close the youth and gender debate, I do recognize that some issues may be pending on this so feel free to address them but under the right subject header. I also noticed that there were queries about the labour laws and Employment Act and maybe we can revisit this at the right time. However, we have two days to discuss the final theme beginning today. This theme synthesizes the strengths that make South Africa, India, Mauritius and Kenya choice BPO destinations. It also synthesizes the countries’ weaknesses. Finally, the synthesis includes observations from the USA and UK as sources of outsourced work, the trends in BPO and the niches the selected countries have pursued or are likely to pursue. The following is a summary of the research findings; a more detailed summary is attached. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES The researchers found that some of India’s strengths include government championship, the government works closely with NASCCOM (National Association of Software Services Companies) and involves NASCCOM in all policy decision making regarding the industry. India generally has a large pool of science, technology and engineering graduates which has made it a preferred destination for high end knowledge process outsourcing. In addition, there are tax incentives; National Skills registry (NSR) to facilitate personnel background checks; and investors have single window clearance for License application. South Africa on the other hand also has clear government championship for the BPO sector evidenced by the fact that investors and potential vendors are wooed from the Office of the President. There is also commitment to regulatory changes when required. There is an effective marketing strategy (target marketing and perception management), which has made many in the world perceive South Africa to be politically and economically stable. There is world class connectivity; S. Africa has 10 international airports, an excellent road and railway network. Mauritiusstrengths include good ratings from the World Bank ‘Doing Business Indicators’ which ranks the country at position 24 for favourable investment climate and number 11 for protecting investors and 7 for starting a business. In addition, it is a multilingual country (with two European languages) so it is an attractive destination for both English and French speaking clients. Some of the key strengths that make Kenya a choice destination for outsourcing is that it is a good place to work and holiday (temperate weather and beautiful country). Indeed, many senior people working for bilateral or international organizations have preferred to live in Kenya after the end of their contracts. Kenya also has government championship of the BPO industry. The country is strategically located and a regional hub for communications and finance. Kenyans generally have a good English accent for English speaking clients. Weaknesses were also assessed in all four countries. In India, for example, there has/was an international backlash due to security breaches that made some companies pulled out of India. There is also the issue of high cost of electricity. Another factor is the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience especially for call centre work for international clients. In S. Africa the cost of operation is still high compared to other outsourcing destinations. Also, even though there are BPO specific incentives, investors are yet to take advantage of these because of the strict qualification criteria. In Mauritius some of the weaknesses highlighted were the negative perception of working in 24/7 environment and many Mauritians cannot imagine working at night. Secondly, Internet and mobile communication tariffs are still high despite liberalization and presence of the submarine cable. Finally, in Kenya, I will emphasize a little more, there is a perception in client countries thatKenya is not politically stable. It also appears that Kenya lacks an effective marketing strategy. Some believe that Kenya is sending the wrong people to woo investors. There is lack of coordination and perceived ‘bad blood’ between some of the key institutions and groups that represent this industry; this is also evident to client countries like in the UK. This is not helped with the soaring electricity costs combined with the high amount of power outages which has made the cost of doing business very high as companies have to invest in generators.Of course, the state of the road infrastructure is wanting and the issue of constant traffic jams causing loss of productive time. USA and UK: The attached summary has some analysis from the USA and UK which includes their preferred outsourcing destination. In the USA, the top ten (10) preferred outsourcing destinations, in order of preference are: 1. Rural or Small Town USA (via Indian Companies), 2. India, 3. Eastern & Central Europe, 4. UK & Ireland (areas of high unemployment), 5. South America, 6. Mexico, 7. Philippines, 8. Canada, 9. Russia and 10. Middle East. It can be noted that Africa does not feature. In the UK, the perceived best three destinations as voted during NOA’s 2008 (www.noa.co.uk.index.php/awrds ) annual awards: 1. Egypt, 2. Romania and 3. Philippines. NICHE AREAS Some of the proposed niche areas for the vendor countries are: India: The niche areas for India are a little hard to perceive as they were front-runners in the BPO industry amongst developing countries. Over time they have found that some of their niche areas are in remote ICT systems maintenance, software development, and numerical analysis for various companies.In addition, they have capitalized on their experience and historical advantage and are now outsourcing work (or assisting the client countries to outsource work) to destinations where they do not have the comparative advantage. A case in point is actuarial work to South Africa. South Africa: Great potential in the banking sector. South Africa also has excellent actuarial and insurance services. It is common to find people who may source work to India because it is cheaper but are now taking some of the actuarial work to South Africa as they will find the skill sets that they may not get as easily in India or Philippines. This trend may increase as they are willing to pay the optimum price for these skill sets not necessarily the cheapest price. Mauritius: Mauritius’s greatest niche comes from the fact that the country is generally multilingual in two European languages (English and French). Many of the current BPO work in developing countries are amongst English speakers and they definitely need contacts who can also work with their potential French clientele. Mauritius is a good destination for back office transcription and translation services. It may also be a good destination for front office work that needs translation (English-French). Kenya:Kenya appears to be an excellent destination for some types of back office work. These include financial services (accounting and payroll services) and legal work as there is a highly educated population in these areas. It can be argued that there may be an opportunity for front office (call centre work) as many say the Kenyan accent is neutral though there has to be training in this area to ensure there is standardization so Kenya can avoid many of India’s mistakes. There is clearly an opportunity for transcription and translation services (based on fact that multi-lingual workers are easy to find). Due to the predominance of the tourism and hospitality industries in the economy, customer service orientation is high amongst trained Kenyans. Discussion Q12.There are many institutions marketing Kenya and are not doing a good job of it and/or are not working from the same script. What institutional set up should we have for marketing Kenya for BPO&O and how can we improve the coordination and the similarity of the messages? Discussion Q13. Consider the following three examples. One, South Africa has many challenges, some of which, like security, are more serious than those for Kenya. However, many in the world perceive South Africa as a worthwhile destination in Africa. A lot of work has been done by the South African Government to create this perception. Two, India’s cost of electricity is as high and unreliable as Kenya’s. However, India is still the number one BPO destination. Three, there is the issue of the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience. Consequently, there are jobs that are going back on-shore to the client countries. Some of these clients are willing to outsource again to the right destination where accent will not be a major problem. This was confirmed in interviews in the UK. Given the strengths of Kenya, the opportunities available locally and abroad, and the lessons from other outsourcing destinations, what key marketing strategies should Kenya adopt? Discussion Q14. Given the findings reported here and the discussions that we have had here on KICTANET in the last two weeks, what niche(s) do you think Kenya should pursue? I know the Bugdet 2009-2010 issues may be upper most in your minds but let us focus on bringing this excellent 10 day discussion to fruition. I thank you in advance. Nyaki _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: nmutungu@gmail.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/nmutungu%40gmail.com -- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) +254721898732 +254736091242 Kenya
Hi Listers, I am not sure if it is due to the end of two weeks of intense discussions but we are supposed to bring the discussions to fruition today. As I had mentioned, day 9-10 discussions are the same, that is as described below. Please let us continue to have your input. We will spill over into Monday as this is a very topical issue. Let us strive to identify Kenya's niche areas based on the strengths and weaknesses identified. Have a great weekend as we continue receiving your input. Nyaki 2009/6/12 Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com> - Day 9 of 10 - BPO Discussions, BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches My apologies about the bouncing emails yesterday, the issue is being addressed. As we close the youth and gender debate, I do recognize that some issues may be pending on this so feel free to address them but under the right subject header. I also noticed that there were queries about the labour laws and Employment Act and maybe we can revisit this at the right time. However, we have two days to discuss the final theme beginning today. This theme synthesizes the strengths that make South Africa, India, Mauritius and Kenya choice BPO destinations. It also synthesizes the countries’ weaknesses. Finally, the synthesis includes observations from the USA and UK as sources of outsourced work, the trends in BPO and the niches the selected countries have pursued or are likely to pursue. The following is a summary of the research findings; a more detailed summary is attached. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES The researchers found that some of India’s strengths include government championship, the government works closely with NASCCOM (National Association of Software Services Companies) and involves NASCCOM in all policy decision making regarding the industry. India generally has a large pool of science, technology and engineering graduates which has made it a preferred destination for high end knowledge process outsourcing. In addition, there are tax incentives; National Skills registry (NSR) to facilitate personnel background checks; and investors have single window clearance for License application. South Africa on the other hand also has clear government championship for the BPO sector evidenced by the fact that investors and potential vendors are wooed from the Office of the President. There is also commitment to regulatory changes when required. There is an effective marketing strategy (target marketing and perception management), which has made many in the world perceive South Africa to be politically and economically stable. There is world class connectivity; S. Africa has 10 international airports, an excellent road and railway network. Mauritiusstrengths include good ratings from the World Bank ‘Doing Business Indicators’ which ranks the country at position 24 for favourable investment climate and number 11 for protecting investors and 7 for starting a business. In addition, it is a multilingual country (with two European languages) so it is an attractive destination for both English and French speaking clients. Some of the key strengths that make Kenya a choice destination for outsourcing is that it is a good place to work and holiday (temperate weather and beautiful country). Indeed, many senior people working for bilateral or international organizations have preferred to live in Kenya after the end of their contracts. Kenya also has government championship of the BPO industry. The country is strategically located and a regional hub for communications and finance. Kenyans generally have a good English accent for English speaking clients. Weaknesses were also assessed in all four countries. In India, for example, there has/was an international backlash due to security breaches that made some companies pulled out of India. There is also the issue of high cost of electricity. Another factor is the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience especially for call centre work for international clients. In S. Africa the cost of operation is still high compared to other outsourcing destinations. Also, even though there are BPO specific incentives, investors are yet to take advantage of these because of the strict qualification criteria. In Mauritius some of the weaknesses highlighted were the negative perception of working in 24/7 environment and many Mauritians cannot imagine working at night. Secondly, Internet and mobile communication tariffs are still high despite liberalization and presence of the submarine cable. Finally, in Kenya, I will emphasize a little more, there is a perception in client countries thatKenya is not politically stable. It also appears that Kenya lacks an effective marketing strategy. Some believe that Kenya is sending the wrong people to woo investors. There is lack of coordination and perceived ‘bad blood’ between some of the key institutions and groups that represent this industry; this is also evident to client countries like in the UK. This is not helped with the soaring electricity costs combined with the high amount of power outages which has made the cost of doing business very high as companies have to invest in generators.Of course, the state of the road infrastructure is wanting and the issue of constant traffic jams causing loss of productive time. USA and UK: The attached summary has some analysis from the USA and UK which includes their preferred outsourcing destination. In the USA, the top ten (10) preferred outsourcing destinations, in order of preference are: 1. Rural or Small Town USA (via Indian Companies), 2. India, 3. Eastern & Central Europe, 4. UK & Ireland (areas of high unemployment), 5. South America, 6. Mexico, 7. Philippines, 8. Canada, 9. Russia and 10. Middle East. It can be noted that Africa does not feature. In the UK, the perceived best three destinations as voted during NOA’s 2008 (www.noa.co.uk.index.php/awrds ) annual awards: 1. Egypt, 2. Romania and 3. Philippines. NICHE AREAS Some of the proposed niche areas for the vendor countries are: India: The niche areas for India are a little hard to perceive as they were front-runners in the BPO industry amongst developing countries. Over time they have found that some of their niche areas are in remote ICT systems maintenance, software development, and numerical analysis for various companies.In addition, they have capitalized on their experience and historical advantage and are now outsourcing work (or assisting the client countries to outsource work) to destinations where they do not have the comparative advantage. A case in point is actuarial work to South Africa. South Africa: Great potential in the banking sector. South Africa also has excellent actuarial and insurance services. It is common to find people who may source work to India because it is cheaper but are now taking some of the actuarial work to South Africa as they will find the skill sets that they may not get as easily in India or Philippines. This trend may increase as they are willing to pay the optimum price for these skill sets not necessarily the cheapest price. Mauritius: Mauritius’s greatest niche comes from the fact that the country is generally multilingual in two European languages (English and French). Many of the current BPO work in developing countries are amongst English speakers and they definitely need contacts who can also work with their potential French clientele. Mauritius is a good destination for back office transcription and translation services. It may also be a good destination for front office work that needs translation (English-French). Kenya:Kenya appears to be an excellent destination for some types of back office work. These include financial services (accounting and payroll services) and legal work as there is a highly educated population in these areas. It can be argued that there may be an opportunity for front office (call centre work) as many say the Kenyan accent is neutral though there has to be training in this area to ensure there is standardization so Kenya can avoid many of India’s mistakes. There is clearly an opportunity for transcription and translation services (based on fact that multi-lingual workers are easy to find). Due to the predominance of the tourism and hospitality industries in the economy, customer service orientation is high amongst trained Kenyans. Discussion Q12.There are many institutions marketing Kenya and are not doing a good job of it and/or are not working from the same script. What institutional set up should we have for marketing Kenya for BPO&O and how can we improve the coordination and the similarity of the messages? Discussion Q13. Consider the following three examples. One, South Africa has many challenges, some of which, like security, are more serious than those for Kenya. However, many in the world perceive South Africa as a worthwhile destination in Africa. A lot of work has been done by the South African Government to create this perception. Two, India’s cost of electricity is as high and unreliable as Kenya’s. However, India is still the number one BPO destination. Three, there is the issue of the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience. Consequently, there are jobs that are going back on-shore to the client countries. Some of these clients are willing to outsource again to the right destination where accent will not be a major problem. This was confirmed in interviews in the UK. Given the strengths of Kenya, the opportunities available locally and abroad, and the lessons from other outsourcing destinations, what key marketing strategies should Kenya adopt? Discussion Q14. Given the findings reported here and the discussions that we have had here on KICTANET in the last two weeks, what niche(s) do you think Kenya should pursue? I know the Bugdet 2009-2010 issues may be upper most in your minds but let us focus on bringing this excellent 10 day discussion to fruition. I thank you in advance. Nyaki _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: nmutungu@gmail.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/nmutungu%40gmail.com -- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) +254721898732 +254736091242 Kenya
Hi all Off the cuff and out of excitement...one of the niche areas/factors is the just landed TEAMs cable and government championship...observe how favourable the budget was to the ICT sector. Best Alice -----Original Message----- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com> Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:15:47 To: <alice@apc.org> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: [kictanet] Day 10 of 10- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: alice@apc.org Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alice%40apc.org
Listers, I'm really sorry I missed out on the BPO discussions. As my contribution I've attached a preliminary report I wrote that touches on what could be an important sector for Kenya. Feedback very welcome. Victor ________________________________ From: kictanet-bounces+v-gathara=dfid.gov.uk@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+v-gathara=dfid.gov.uk@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Catherine Adeya Sent: 13 June 2009 13:16 To: Victor Gathara Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 10 of 10- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses(Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches Hi Listers, I am not sure if it is due to the end of two weeks of intense discussions but we are supposed to bring the discussions to fruition today. As I had mentioned, day 9-10 discussions are the same, that is as described below. Please let us continue to have your input. We will spill over into Monday as this is a very topical issue. Let us strive to identify Kenya's niche areas based on the strengths and weaknesses identified. Have a great weekend as we continue receiving your input. Nyaki DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the British Government's fight against world poverty. Find out more about the major global poverty challenges and get the facts on what DFID is doing to fight them: http://www.dfid.gov.uk ______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Peapod. The service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit: http://www.peapod.co.uk/cleanmail
Victor, Nothing is attached. Nyaki ________________________________ From: Victor Gathara <v-gathara@dfid.gov.uk> To: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2009 4:38:54 PM Subject: My take: [kictanet] Day 10 of 10- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses(Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches Listers, I'm really sorry I missed out on the BPO discussions. As my contribution I've attached a preliminary report I wrote that touches on what could be an important sector for Kenya. Feedback very welcome. Victor ________________________________ From: kictanet-bounces+v-gathara=dfid.gov.uk@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+v-gathara=dfid.gov.uk@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Catherine Adeya Sent: 13 June 2009 13:16 To: Victor Gathara Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: [kictanet] Day 10 of 10- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses(Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches Hi Listers, I am not sure if it is due to the end of two weeks of intense discussions but we are supposed to bring the discussions to fruition today. As I had mentioned, day 9-10 discussions are the same, that is as described below. Please let us continue to have your input. We will spill over into Monday as this is a very topical issue. Let us strive to identify Kenya's niche areas based on the strengths and weaknesses identified. Have a great weekend as we continue receiving your input. Nyaki DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the British Government's fight against world poverty. Find out more about the major global poverty challenges and get the facts on what DFID is doing to fight them: http://www.dfid.gov.uk ______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Peapod. The service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit: http://www.peapod.co.uk/cleanmail
Indeed this country has a number of strengths but our greatest weakness- negativity- will consume all the strengths we have. I read once when India's BPO industry was under attack from western Media over theft especially back office work for credit card companies. India was united in defending their country. What happens here? We even assist to destroy the little we have. We see competitors as enemies instead of embracing them and working for the country. No matter what we do, until we see ourselves as Kenyans first and rid of ourselves from petty negative attitide towards others we cannot succeed. There are foreigners here too exploiting and magnifying our differences. It is these little things that would make us succeed. Ndemo.
Hi Listers,
I am not sure if it is due to the end of two weeks of intense discussions but we are supposed to bring the discussions to fruition today. As I had mentioned, day 9-10 discussions are the same, that is as described below. Please let us continue to have your input. We will spill over into Monday as this is a very topical issue.
Let us strive to identify Kenya's niche areas based on the strengths and weaknesses identified.
Have a great weekend as we continue receiving your input.
Nyaki
2009/6/12 Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
- Day 9 of 10 - BPO Discussions, BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches My apologies about the bouncing emails yesterday, the issue is being addressed. As we close the youth and gender debate, I do recognize that some issues may be pending on this so feel free to address them but under the right subject header. I also noticed that there were queries about the labour laws and Employment Act and maybe we can revisit this at the right time. However, we have two days to discuss the final theme beginning today. This theme synthesizes the strengths that make South Africa, India, Mauritius and Kenya choice BPO destinations. It also synthesizes the countriesâ weaknesses. Finally, the synthesis includes observations from the USA and UK as sources of outsourced work, the trends in BPO and the niches the selected countries have pursued or are likely to pursue. The following is a summary of the research findings; a more detailed summary is attached. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES The researchers found that some of Indiaâs strengths include government championship, the government works closely with NASCCOM (National Association of Software Services Companies) and involves NASCCOM in all policy decision making regarding the industry. India generally has a large pool of science, technology and engineering graduates which has made it a preferred destination for high end knowledge process outsourcing. In addition, there are tax incentives; National Skills registry (NSR) to facilitate personnel background checks; and investors have single window clearance for License application. South Africa on the other hand also has clear government championship for the BPO sector evidenced by the fact that investors and potential vendors are wooed from the Office of the President. There is also commitment to regulatory changes when required. There is an effective marketing strategy (target marketing and perception management), which has made many in the world perceive South Africa to be politically and economically stable. There is world class connectivity; S. Africa has 10 international airports, an excellent road and railway network.
Mauritiusstrengths include good ratings from the World Bank âDoing Business Indicatorsâ which ranks the country at position 24 for favourable investment climate and number 11 for protecting investors and 7 for starting a business. In addition, it is a multilingual country (with two European languages) so it is an attractive destination for both English and French speaking clients. Some of the key strengths that make Kenya a choice destination for outsourcing is that it is a good place to work and holiday (temperate weather and beautiful country). Indeed, many senior people working for bilateral or international organizations have preferred to live in Kenya after the end of their contracts. Kenya also has government championship of the BPO industry. The country is strategically located and a regional hub for communications and finance. Kenyans generally have a good English accent for English speaking clients.
Weaknesses were also assessed in all four countries. In India, for example, there has/was an international backlash due to security breaches that made some companies pulled out of India. There is also the issue of high cost of electricity. Another factor is the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience especially for call centre work for international clients. In S. Africa the cost of operation is still high compared to other outsourcing destinations. Also, even though there are BPO specific incentives, investors are yet to take advantage of these because of the strict qualification criteria.
In Mauritius some of the weaknesses highlighted were the negative perception of working in 24/7 environment and many Mauritians cannot imagine working at night. Secondly, Internet and mobile communication tariffs are still high despite liberalization and presence of the submarine cable. Finally, in Kenya, I will emphasize a little more, there is a perception in client countries thatKenya is not politically stable. It also appears that Kenya lacks an effective marketing strategy. Some believe that Kenya is sending the wrong people to woo investors. There is lack of coordination and perceived âbad bloodâ between some of the key institutions and groups that represent this industry; this is also evident to client countries like in the UK. This is not helped with the soaring electricity costs combined with the high amount of power outages which has made the cost of doing business very high as companies have to invest in generators.Of course, the state of the road infrastructure is wanting and the issue of constant traffic jams causing loss of productive time.
USA and UK: The attached summary has some analysis from the USA and UK which includes their preferred outsourcing destination. In the USA, the top ten (10) preferred outsourcing destinations, in order of preference are: 1. Rural or Small Town USA (via Indian Companies), 2. India, 3. Eastern & Central Europe, 4. UK & Ireland (areas of high unemployment), 5. South America, 6. Mexico, 7. Philippines, 8. Canada, 9. Russia and 10. Middle East. It can be noted that Africa does not feature. In the UK, the perceived best three destinations as voted during NOAâs 2008 (www.noa.co.uk.index.php/awrds ) annual awards: 1. Egypt, 2. Romania and 3. Philippines. NICHE AREAS Some of the proposed niche areas for the vendor countries are:
India: The niche areas for India are a little hard to perceive as they were front-runners in the BPO industry amongst developing countries. Over time they have found that some of their niche areas are in remote ICT systems maintenance, software development, and numerical analysis for various companies.In addition, they have capitalized on their experience and historical advantage and are now outsourcing work (or assisting the client countries to outsource work) to destinations where they do not have the comparative advantage. A case in point is actuarial work to South Africa.
South Africa: Great potential in the banking sector. South Africa also has excellent actuarial and insurance services. It is common to find people who may source work to India because it is cheaper but are now taking some of the actuarial work to South Africa as they will find the skill sets that they may not get as easily in India or Philippines. This trend may increase as they are willing to pay the optimum price for these skill sets not necessarily the cheapest price.
Mauritius: Mauritiusâs greatest niche comes from the fact that the country is generally multilingual in two European languages (English and French). Many of the current BPO work in developing countries are amongst English speakers and they definitely need contacts who can also work with their potential French clientele. Mauritius is a good destination for back office transcription and translation services. It may also be a good destination for front office work that needs translation (English-French).
Kenya:Kenya appears to be an excellent destination for some types of back office work. These include financial services (accounting and payroll services) and legal work as there is a highly educated population in these areas. It can be argued that there may be an opportunity for front office (call centre work) as many say the Kenyan accent is neutral though there has to be training in this area to ensure there is standardization so Kenya can avoid many of Indiaâs mistakes. There is clearly an opportunity for transcription and translation services (based on fact that multi-lingual workers are easy to find). Due to the predominance of the tourism and hospitality industries in the economy, customer service orientation is high amongst trained Kenyans.
Discussion Q12.There are many institutions marketing Kenya and are not doing a good job of it and/or are not working from the same script. What institutional set up should we have for marketing Kenya for BPO&O and how can we improve the coordination and the similarity of the messages? Discussion Q13. Consider the following three examples. One, South Africa has many challenges, some of which, like security, are more serious than those for Kenya. However, many in the world perceive South Africa as a worthwhile destination in Africa. A lot of work has been done by the South African Government to create this perception. Two, Indiaâs cost of electricity is as high and unreliable as Kenyaâs. However, India is still the number one BPO destination. Three, there is the issue of the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience. Consequently, there are jobs that are going back on-shore to the client countries. Some of these clients are willing to outsource again to the right destination where accent will not be a major problem. This was confirmed in interviews in the UK. Given the strengths of Kenya, the opportunities available locally and abroad, and the lessons from other outsourcing destinations, what key marketing strategies should Kenya adopt? Discussion Q14. Given the findings reported here and the discussions that we have had here on KICTANET in the last two weeks, what niche(s) do you think Kenya should pursue?
I know the Bugdet 2009-2010 issues may be upper most in your minds but let us focus on bringing this excellent 10 day discussion to fruition. I thank you in advance. Nyaki
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Dr. Ndemo, You could not have concluded this conversation any better. After all have being said and done, ATTITUDES are still the KILLER APP. We can develop all the plans and strategies but the basics like honesty, faithfulness, hardwork, teamwork etc cannot be wished away. Eric here
Indeed this country has a number of strengths but our greatest weakness- negativity- will consume all the strengths we have. I read once when India's BPO industry was under attack from western Media over theft especially back office work for credit card companies. India was united in defending their country. What happens here? We even assist to destroy the little we have. We see competitors as enemies instead of embracing them and working for the country. No matter what we do, until we see ourselves as Kenyans first and rid of ourselves from petty negative attitide towards others we cannot succeed. There are foreigners here too exploiting and magnifying our differences. It is these little things that would make us succeed.
Ndemo.
Hi Listers,
I am not sure if it is due to the end of two weeks of intense discussions but we are supposed to bring the discussions to fruition today. As I had mentioned, day 9-10 discussions are the same, that is as described below. Please let us continue to have your input. We will spill over into Monday as this is a very topical issue.
Let us strive to identify Kenya's niche areas based on the strengths and weaknesses identified.
Have a great weekend as we continue receiving your input.
Nyaki
2009/6/12 Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
- Day 9 of 10 - BPO Discussions, BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches My apologies about the bouncing emails yesterday, the issue is being addressed. As we close the youth and gender debate, I do recognize that some issues may be pending on this so feel free to address them but under the right subject header. I also noticed that there were queries about the labour laws and Employment Act and maybe we can revisit this at the right time. However, we have two days to discuss the final theme beginning today. This theme synthesizes the strengths that make South Africa, India, Mauritius and Kenya choice BPO destinations. It also synthesizes the countriesâ weaknesses. Finally, the synthesis includes observations from the USA and UK as sources of outsourced work, the trends in BPO and the niches the selected countries have pursued or are likely to pursue. The following is a summary of the research findings; a more detailed summary is attached. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES The researchers found that some of Indiaâs strengths include government championship, the government works closely with NASCCOM (National Association of Software Services Companies) and involves NASCCOM in all policy decision making regarding the industry. India generally has a large pool of science, technology and engineering graduates which has made it a preferred destination for high end knowledge process outsourcing. In addition, there are tax incentives; National Skills registry (NSR) to facilitate personnel background checks; and investors have single window clearance for License application. South Africa on the other hand also has clear government championship for the BPO sector evidenced by the fact that investors and potential vendors are wooed from the Office of the President. There is also commitment to regulatory changes when required. There is an effective marketing strategy (target marketing and perception management), which has made many in the world perceive South Africa to be politically and economically stable. There is world class connectivity; S. Africa has 10 international airports, an excellent road and railway network.
Mauritiusstrengths include good ratings from the World Bank âDoing Business Indicatorsâ which ranks the country at position 24 for favourable investment climate and number 11 for protecting investors and 7 for starting a business. In addition, it is a multilingual country (with two European languages) so it is an attractive destination for both English and French speaking clients. Some of the key strengths that make Kenya a choice destination for outsourcing is that it is a good place to work and holiday (temperate weather and beautiful country). Indeed, many senior people working for bilateral or international organizations have preferred to live in Kenya after the end of their contracts. Kenya also has government championship of the BPO industry. The country is strategically located and a regional hub for communications and finance. Kenyans generally have a good English accent for English speaking clients.
Weaknesses were also assessed in all four countries. In India, for example, there has/was an international backlash due to security breaches that made some companies pulled out of India. There is also the issue of high cost of electricity. Another factor is the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience especially for call centre work for international clients. In S. Africa the cost of operation is still high compared to other outsourcing destinations. Also, even though there are BPO specific incentives, investors are yet to take advantage of these because of the strict qualification criteria.
In Mauritius some of the weaknesses highlighted were the negative perception of working in 24/7 environment and many Mauritians cannot imagine working at night. Secondly, Internet and mobile communication tariffs are still high despite liberalization and presence of the submarine cable. Finally, in Kenya, I will emphasize a little more, there is a perception in client countries thatKenya is not politically stable. It also appears that Kenya lacks an effective marketing strategy. Some believe that Kenya is sending the wrong people to woo investors. There is lack of coordination and perceived âbad bloodâ between some of the key institutions and groups that represent this industry; this is also evident to client countries like in the UK. This is not helped with the soaring electricity costs combined with the high amount of power outages which has made the cost of doing business very high as companies have to invest in generators.Of course, the state of the road infrastructure is wanting and the issue of constant traffic jams causing loss of productive time.
USA and UK: The attached summary has some analysis from the USA and UK which includes their preferred outsourcing destination. In the USA, the top ten (10) preferred outsourcing destinations, in order of preference are: 1. Rural or Small Town USA (via Indian Companies), 2. India, 3. Eastern & Central Europe, 4. UK & Ireland (areas of high unemployment), 5. South America, 6. Mexico, 7. Philippines, 8. Canada, 9. Russia and 10. Middle East. It can be noted that Africa does not feature. In the UK, the perceived best three destinations as voted during NOAâs 2008 (www.noa.co.uk.index.php/awrds ) annual awards: 1. Egypt, 2. Romania and 3. Philippines. NICHE AREAS Some of the proposed niche areas for the vendor countries are:
India: The niche areas for India are a little hard to perceive as they were front-runners in the BPO industry amongst developing countries. Over time they have found that some of their niche areas are in remote ICT systems maintenance, software development, and numerical analysis for various companies.In addition, they have capitalized on their experience and historical advantage and are now outsourcing work (or assisting the client countries to outsource work) to destinations where they do not have the comparative advantage. A case in point is actuarial work to South Africa.
South Africa: Great potential in the banking sector. South Africa also has excellent actuarial and insurance services. It is common to find people who may source work to India because it is cheaper but are now taking some of the actuarial work to South Africa as they will find the skill sets that they may not get as easily in India or Philippines. This trend may increase as they are willing to pay the optimum price for these skill sets not necessarily the cheapest price.
Mauritius: Mauritiusâs greatest niche comes from the fact that the country is generally multilingual in two European languages (English and French). Many of the current BPO work in developing countries are amongst English speakers and they definitely need contacts who can also work with their potential French clientele. Mauritius is a good destination for back office transcription and translation services. It may also be a good destination for front office work that needs translation (English-French).
Kenya:Kenya appears to be an excellent destination for some types of back office work. These include financial services (accounting and payroll services) and legal work as there is a highly educated population in these areas. It can be argued that there may be an opportunity for front office (call centre work) as many say the Kenyan accent is neutral though there has to be training in this area to ensure there is standardization so Kenya can avoid many of Indiaâs mistakes. There is clearly an opportunity for transcription and translation services (based on fact that multi-lingual workers are easy to find). Due to the predominance of the tourism and hospitality industries in the economy, customer service orientation is high amongst trained Kenyans.
Discussion Q12.There are many institutions marketing Kenya and are not doing a good job of it and/or are not working from the same script. What institutional set up should we have for marketing Kenya for BPO&O and how can we improve the coordination and the similarity of the messages? Discussion Q13. Consider the following three examples. One, South Africa has many challenges, some of which, like security, are more serious than those for Kenya. However, many in the world perceive South Africa as a worthwhile destination in Africa. A lot of work has been done by the South African Government to create this perception. Two, Indiaâs cost of electricity is as high and unreliable as Kenyaâs. However, India is still the number one BPO destination. Three, there is the issue of the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience. Consequently, there are jobs that are going back on-shore to the client countries. Some of these clients are willing to outsource again to the right destination where accent will not be a major problem. This was confirmed in interviews in the UK. Given the strengths of Kenya, the opportunities available locally and abroad, and the lessons from other outsourcing destinations, what key marketing strategies should Kenya adopt? Discussion Q14. Given the findings reported here and the discussions that we have had here on KICTANET in the last two weeks, what niche(s) do you think Kenya should pursue?
I know the Bugdet 2009-2010 issues may be upper most in your minds but let us focus on bringing this excellent 10 day discussion to fruition. I thank you in advance. Nyaki
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Eric, The reason a Kenyan company wouldn't trust a call centre in Nigeria has more to do with attitudes and stereotypes - some unfounded - than with capacity. Before closing a deal, you'd notice a higher level of due diligence. Our BPO branding exercise must therefore become part of a wider national branding effort. This issue arose at the onset of these discussions. Media and others must ensure a positive projection of Kenya as a nation and that of our BPO sector. Our media must stop feeding the stereotypes like the 'mungiki' image of Kenya; or the notion that we are a helplessly corrupt lot. A new message must be communicate just like the PROUDLY SOUTHAFRICAN brand that has diverted many opportunities southwards inspite of the crime levels in Jo'berg. Wainaina On 6/14/09, emko@internetresearch.com.gh <emko@internetresearch.com.gh> wrote:
Dr. Ndemo,
You could not have concluded this conversation any better.
After all have being said and done, ATTITUDES are still the KILLER APP. We can develop all the plans and strategies but the basics like honesty, faithfulness, hardwork, teamwork etc cannot be wished away.
Eric here
Indeed this country has a number of strengths but our greatest weakness- negativity- will consume all the strengths we have. I read once when India's BPO industry was under attack from western Media over theft especially back office work for credit card companies. India was united in defending their country. What happens here? We even assist to destroy the little we have. We see competitors as enemies instead of embracing them and working for the country. No matter what we do, until we see ourselves as Kenyans first and rid of ourselves from petty negative attitide towards others we cannot succeed. There are foreigners here too exploiting and magnifying our differences. It is these little things that would make us succeed.
Ndemo.
Hi Listers,
I am not sure if it is due to the end of two weeks of intense discussions but we are supposed to bring the discussions to fruition today. As I had mentioned, day 9-10 discussions are the same, that is as described below. Please let us continue to have your input. We will spill over into Monday as this is a very topical issue.
Let us strive to identify Kenya's niche areas based on the strengths and weaknesses identified.
Have a great weekend as we continue receiving your input.
Nyaki
2009/6/12 Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
- Day 9 of 10 - BPO Discussions, BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches My apologies about the bouncing emails yesterday, the issue is being addressed. As we close the youth and gender debate, I do recognize that some issues may be pending on this so feel free to address them but under the right subject header. I also noticed that there were queries about the labour laws and Employment Act and maybe we can revisit this at the right time. However, we have two days to discuss the final theme beginning today. This theme synthesizes the strengths that make South Africa, India, Mauritius and Kenya choice BPO destinations. It also synthesizes the countries’ weaknesses. Finally, the synthesis includes observations from the USA and UK as sources of outsourced work, the trends in BPO and the niches the selected countries have pursued or are likely to pursue. The following is a summary of the research findings; a more detailed summary is attached. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES The researchers found that some of India’s strengths include government championship, the government works closely with NASCCOM (National Association of Software Services Companies) and involves NASCCOM in all policy decision making regarding the industry. India generally has a large pool of science, technology and engineering graduates which has made it a preferred destination for high end knowledge process outsourcing. In addition, there are tax incentives; National Skills registry (NSR) to facilitate personnel background checks; and investors have single window clearance for License application. South Africa on the other hand also has clear government championship for the BPO sector evidenced by the fact that investors and potential vendors are wooed from the Office of the President. There is also commitment to regulatory changes when required. There is an effective marketing strategy (target marketing and perception management), which has made many in the world perceive South Africa to be politically and economically stable. There is world class connectivity; S. Africa has 10 international airports, an excellent road and railway network.
Mauritiusstrengths include good ratings from the World Bank ‘Doing Business Indicators’ which ranks the country at position 24 for favourable investment climate and number 11 for protecting investors and 7 for starting a business. In addition, it is a multilingual country (with two European languages) so it is an attractive destination for both English and French speaking clients. Some of the key strengths that make Kenya a choice destination for outsourcing is that it is a good place to work and holiday (temperate weather and beautiful country). Indeed, many senior people working for bilateral or international organizations have preferred to live in Kenya after the end of their contracts. Kenya also has government championship of the BPO industry. The country is strategically located and a regional hub for communications and finance. Kenyans generally have a good English accent for English speaking clients.
Weaknesses were also assessed in all four countries. In India, for example, there has/was an international backlash due to security breaches that made some companies pulled out of India. There is also the issue of high cost of electricity. Another factor is the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience especially for call centre work for international clients. In S. Africa the cost of operation is still high compared to other outsourcing destinations. Also, even though there are BPO specific incentives, investors are yet to take advantage of these because of the strict qualification criteria.
In Mauritius some of the weaknesses highlighted were the negative perception of working in 24/7 environment and many Mauritians cannot imagine working at night. Secondly, Internet and mobile communication tariffs are still high despite liberalization and presence of the submarine cable. Finally, in Kenya, I will emphasize a little more, there is a perception in client countries thatKenya is not politically stable. It also appears that Kenya lacks an effective marketing strategy. Some believe that Kenya is sending the wrong people to woo investors. There is lack of coordination and perceived ‘bad blood’ between some of the key institutions and groups that represent this industry; this is also evident to client countries like in the UK. This is not helped with the soaring electricity costs combined with the high amount of power outages which has made the cost of doing business very high as companies have to invest in generators.Of course, the state of the road infrastructure is wanting and the issue of constant traffic jams causing loss of productive time.
USA and UK: The attached summary has some analysis from the USA and UK which includes their preferred outsourcing destination. In the USA, the top ten (10) preferred outsourcing destinations, in order of preference are: 1. Rural or Small Town USA (via Indian Companies), 2. India, 3. Eastern & Central Europe, 4. UK & Ireland (areas of high unemployment), 5. South America, 6. Mexico, 7. Philippines, 8. Canada, 9. Russia and 10. Middle East. It can be noted that Africa does not feature. In the UK, the perceived best three destinations as voted during NOA’s 2008 (www.noa.co.uk.index.php/awrds ) annual awards: 1. Egypt, 2. Romania and 3. Philippines. NICHE AREAS Some of the proposed niche areas for the vendor countries are:
India: The niche areas for India are a little hard to perceive as they were front-runners in the BPO industry amongst developing countries. Over time they have found that some of their niche areas are in remote ICT systems maintenance, software development, and numerical analysis for various companies.In addition, they have capitalized on their experience and historical advantage and are now outsourcing work (or assisting the client countries to outsource work) to destinations where they do not have the comparative advantage. A case in point is actuarial work to South Africa.
South Africa: Great potential in the banking sector. South Africa also has excellent actuarial and insurance services. It is common to find people who may source work to India because it is cheaper but are now taking some of the actuarial work to South Africa as they will find the skill sets that they may not get as easily in India or Philippines. This trend may increase as they are willing to pay the optimum price for these skill sets not necessarily the cheapest price.
Mauritius: Mauritius’s greatest niche comes from the fact that the country is generally multilingual in two European languages (English and French). Many of the current BPO work in developing countries are amongst English speakers and they definitely need contacts who can also work with their potential French clientele. Mauritius is a good destination for back office transcription and translation services. It may also be a good destination for front office work that needs translation (English-French).
Kenya:Kenya appears to be an excellent destination for some types of back office work. These include financial services (accounting and payroll services) and legal work as there is a highly educated population in these areas. It can be argued that there may be an opportunity for front office (call centre work) as many say the Kenyan accent is neutral though there has to be training in this area to ensure there is standardization so Kenya can avoid many of India’s mistakes. There is clearly an opportunity for transcription and translation services (based on fact that multi-lingual workers are easy to find). Due to the predominance of the tourism and hospitality industries in the economy, customer service orientation is high amongst trained Kenyans.
Discussion Q12.There are many institutions marketing Kenya and are not doing a good job of it and/or are not working from the same script. What institutional set up should we have for marketing Kenya for BPO&O and how can we improve the coordination and the similarity of the messages? Discussion Q13. Consider the following three examples. One, South Africa has many challenges, some of which, like security, are more serious than those for Kenya. However, many in the world perceive South Africa as a worthwhile destination in Africa. A lot of work has been done by the South African Government to create this perception. Two, India’s cost of electricity is as high and unreliable as Kenya’s. However, India is still the number one BPO destination. Three, there is the issue of the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience. Consequently, there are jobs that are going back on-shore to the client countries. Some of these clients are willing to outsource again to the right destination where accent will not be a major problem. This was confirmed in interviews in the UK. Given the strengths of Kenya, the opportunities available locally and abroad, and the lessons from other outsourcing destinations, what key marketing strategies should Kenya adopt? Discussion Q14. Given the findings reported here and the discussions that we have had here on KICTANET in the last two weeks, what niche(s) do you think Kenya should pursue?
I know the Bugdet 2009-2010 issues may be upper most in your minds but let us focus on bringing this excellent 10 day discussion to fruition. I thank you in advance. Nyaki
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On attitudes I wonder what won over sceptics to mobile banking? I believe it was success! The same for the BPO industry. A wise man once said "if you stop to kick at every dog that barks at you, you couldn't get very far". Rather than get discouraged and try to win over the nay-sayers, the industry should view this as a challenge to prove them (and me to an extent) wrong while laughing all the way to the bank, a la Vodaphone/SafariCom. Victor -----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+v-gathara=dfid.gov.uk@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+v-gathara=dfid.gov.uk@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of emko@internetresearch.com.gh Sent: 14 June 2009 01:29 To: Victor Gathara Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10 of 10- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches Dr. Ndemo, You could not have concluded this conversation any better. After all have being said and done, ATTITUDES are still the KILLER APP. We can develop all the plans and strategies but the basics like honesty, faithfulness, hardwork, teamwork etc cannot be wished away. Eric here
Indeed this country has a number of strengths but our greatest weakness- negativity- will consume all the strengths we have. I read once when India's BPO industry was under attack from western Media over theft especially back office work for credit card companies. India was united in defending their country. What happens here? We even assist to destroy the little we have. We see competitors as enemies instead of embracing them and working for the country. No matter what we do, until we see ourselves as Kenyans first and rid of ourselves from petty negative attitide towards others we cannot succeed. There are foreigners here too exploiting and magnifying our differences. It is these little things that would make us succeed.
Ndemo.
Hi Listers,
I am not sure if it is due to the end of two weeks of intense discussions but we are supposed to bring the discussions to fruition today. As I had mentioned, day 9-10 discussions are the same, that is as described below. Please let us continue to have your input. We will spill over into Monday as this is a very topical issue.
Let us strive to identify Kenya's niche areas based on the strengths and weaknesses identified.
Have a great weekend as we continue receiving your input.
Nyaki
2009/6/12 Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
- Day 9 of 10 - BPO Discussions, BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches My apologies about the bouncing emails yesterday, the issue is being addressed. As we close the youth and gender debate, I do recognize that some issues may be pending on this so feel free to address them but under the right subject header. I also noticed that there were queries about the labour laws and Employment Act and maybe we can revisit this at the right time. However, we have two days to discuss the final theme beginning today. This theme synthesizes the strengths that make South Africa, India, Mauritius and Kenya choice BPO destinations. It also synthesizes the countries’ weaknesses. Finally, the synthesis includes observations from the USA and UK as sources of outsourced work, the trends in BPO and the niches the selected countries have pursued or are likely to pursue. The following is a summary of the research findings; a more detailed summary is attached. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES The researchers found that some of India’s strengths include government championship, the government works closely with NASCCOM (National Association of Software Services Companies) and involves NASCCOM in all policy decision making regarding the industry. India generally has a large pool of science, technology and engineering graduates which has made it a preferred destination for high end knowledge process outsourcing. In addition, there are tax incentives; National Skills registry (NSR) to facilitate personnel background checks; and investors have single window clearance for License application. South Africa on the other hand also has clear government championship for the BPO sector evidenced by the fact that investors and potential vendors are wooed from the Office of the President. There is also commitment to regulatory changes when required. There is an effective marketing strategy (target marketing and perception management), which has made many in the world perceive South Africa to be politically and economically stable. There is world class connectivity; S. Africa has 10 international airports, an excellent road and railway network.
Mauritiusstrengths include good ratings from the World Bank ‘Doing Business Indicators’ which ranks the country at position 24 for favourable investment climate and number 11 for protecting investors and 7 for starting a business. In addition, it is a multilingual country (with two European languages) so it is an attractive destination for both English and French speaking clients. Some of the key strengths that make Kenya a choice destination for outsourcing is that it is a good place to work and holiday (temperate weather and beautiful country). Indeed, many senior people working for bilateral or international organizations have preferred to live in Kenya after the end of their contracts. Kenya also has government championship of the BPO industry. The country is strategically located and a regional hub for communications and finance. Kenyans generally have a good English accent for English speaking clients.
Weaknesses were also assessed in all four countries. In India, for example, there has/was an international backlash due to security breaches that made some companies pulled out of India. There is also the issue of high cost of electricity. Another factor is the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience especially for call centre work for international clients. In S. Africa the cost of operation is still high compared to other outsourcing destinations. Also, even though there are BPO specific incentives, investors are yet to take advantage of these because of the strict qualification criteria.
In Mauritius some of the weaknesses highlighted were the negative perception of working in 24/7 environment and many Mauritians cannot imagine working at night. Secondly, Internet and mobile communication tariffs are still high despite liberalization and presence of the submarine cable. Finally, in Kenya, I will emphasize a little more, there is a perception in client countries thatKenya is not politically stable. It also appears that Kenya lacks an effective marketing strategy. Some believe that Kenya is sending the wrong people to woo investors. There is lack of coordination and perceived ‘bad blood’ between some of the key institutions and groups that represent this industry; this is also evident to client countries like in the UK. This is not helped with the soaring electricity costs combined with the high amount of power outages which has made the cost of doing business very high as companies have to invest in generators.Of course, the state of the road infrastructure is wanting and the issue of constant traffic jams causing loss of productive time.
USA and UK: The attached summary has some analysis from the USA and UK which includes their preferred outsourcing destination. In the USA, the top ten (10) preferred outsourcing destinations, in order of preference are: 1. Rural or Small Town USA (via Indian Companies), 2. India, 3. Eastern & Central Europe, 4. UK & Ireland (areas of high unemployment), 5. South America, 6. Mexico, 7. Philippines, 8. Canada, 9. Russia and 10. Middle East. It can be noted that Africa does not feature. In the UK, the perceived best three destinations as voted during NOA’s 2008 (www.noa.co.uk.index.php/awrds ) annual awards: 1. Egypt, 2. Romania and 3. Philippines. NICHE AREAS Some of the proposed niche areas for the vendor countries are:
India: The niche areas for India are a little hard to perceive as they were front-runners in the BPO industry amongst developing countries. Over time they have found that some of their niche areas are in remote ICT systems maintenance, software development, and numerical analysis for various companies.In addition, they have capitalized on their experience and historical advantage and are now outsourcing work (or assisting the client countries to outsource work) to destinations where they do not have the comparative advantage. A case in point is actuarial work to South Africa.
South Africa: Great potential in the banking sector. South Africa also has excellent actuarial and insurance services. It is common to find people who may source work to India because it is cheaper but are now taking some of the actuarial work to South Africa as they will find the skill sets that they may not get as easily in India or Philippines. This trend may increase as they are willing to pay the optimum price for these skill sets not necessarily the cheapest price.
Mauritius: Mauritius’s greatest niche comes from the fact that the country is generally multilingual in two European languages (English and French). Many of the current BPO work in developing countries are amongst English speakers and they definitely need contacts who can also work with their potential French clientele. Mauritius is a good destination for back office transcription and translation services. It may also be a good destination for front office work that needs translation (English-French).
Kenya:Kenya appears to be an excellent destination for some types of back office work. These include financial services (accounting and payroll services) and legal work as there is a highly educated population in these areas. It can be argued that there may be an opportunity for front office (call centre work) as many say the Kenyan accent is neutral though there has to be training in this area to ensure there is standardization so Kenya can avoid many of India’s mistakes. There is clearly an opportunity for transcription and translation services (based on fact that multi-lingual workers are easy to find). Due to the predominance of the tourism and hospitality industries in the economy, customer service orientation is high amongst trained Kenyans.
Discussion Q12.There are many institutions marketing Kenya and are not doing a good job of it and/or are not working from the same script. What institutional set up should we have for marketing Kenya for BPO&O and how can we improve the coordination and the similarity of the messages? Discussion Q13. Consider the following three examples. One, South Africa has many challenges, some of which, like security, are more serious than those for Kenya. However, many in the world perceive South Africa as a worthwhile destination in Africa. A lot of work has been done by the South African Government to create this perception. Two, India’s cost of electricity is as high and unreliable as Kenya’s. However, India is still the number one BPO destination. Three, there is the issue of the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience. Consequently, there are jobs that are going back on-shore to the client countries. Some of these clients are willing to outsource again to the right destination where accent will not be a major problem. This was confirmed in interviews in the UK. Given the strengths of Kenya, the opportunities available locally and abroad, and the lessons from other outsourcing destinations, what key marketing strategies should Kenya adopt? Discussion Q14. Given the findings reported here and the discussions that we have had here on KICTANET in the last two weeks, what niche(s) do you think Kenya should pursue?
I know the Bugdet 2009-2010 issues may be upper most in your minds but let us focus on bringing this excellent 10 day discussion to fruition. I thank you in advance. Nyaki
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Communicating in DFID terms: US/EU psychology (manifested in colonial, trade and aid practices) places Africans below Asians and Arabs. What is changing their minds slowly but surely is that those they favor over us are only becoming more hostile towards them. China is also becoming too powerful for them (disabling their dictatorships) in Africa. For over 40 years, Egypt received more aid from the USA per annum than the whole of Sub Saharan Africa (combined) until George Bush (2000-2008) came and almost quadrupled AID to Africa (from about USD 1.5B to almost USD 6.0B per annum). Egypt (82 Million people) still receives one third of what Sub Saharan Africa (800 Million People) receives. Including North Africa, in 2009 Africa is hitting a population of 1 Billion. If we do not learn from history and geo-politics we will waste precious resources trying to convince the US/EU markets we are worthy (and creative) human beings. What we need most is to direct resources into improving service delivery (BPO) WITHIN Africa! There will be less violence and more US/EU tourists will come and be convinced (slowly but surely) they can outsource business to us. Are we not working with 2030 towards this goal? Victor Gathara wrote:
On attitudes
I wonder what won over sceptics to mobile banking? I believe it was success!
The same for the BPO industry. A wise man once said "if you stop to kick at every dog that barks at you, you couldn't get very far". Rather than get discouraged and try to win over the nay-sayers, the industry should view this as a challenge to prove them (and me to an extent) wrong while laughing all the way to the bank, a la Vodaphone/SafariCom.
Victor
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+v-gathara=dfid.gov.uk@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+v-gathara=dfid.gov.uk@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of emko@internetresearch.com.gh Sent: 14 June 2009 01:29 To: Victor Gathara Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10 of 10- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
Dr. Ndemo,
You could not have concluded this conversation any better.
After all have being said and done, ATTITUDES are still the KILLER APP. We can develop all the plans and strategies but the basics like honesty, faithfulness, hardwork, teamwork etc cannot be wished away.
Eric here
Indeed this country has a number of strengths but our greatest weakness- negativity- will consume all the strengths we have. I read once when India's BPO industry was under attack from western Media over theft especially back office work for credit card companies. India was united in defending their country. What happens here? We even assist to destroy the little we have. We see competitors as enemies instead of embracing them and working for the country. No matter what we do, until we see ourselves as Kenyans first and rid of ourselves from petty negative attitide towards others we cannot succeed. There are foreigners here too exploiting and magnifying our differences. It is these little things that would make us succeed.
Ndemo.
Hi Listers,
I am not sure if it is due to the end of two weeks of intense discussions but we are supposed to bring the discussions to fruition today. As I had mentioned, day 9-10 discussions are the same, that is as described below. Please let us continue to have your input. We will spill over into Monday as this is a very topical issue.
Let us strive to identify Kenya's niche areas based on the strengths and weaknesses identified.
Have a great weekend as we continue receiving your input.
Nyaki
2009/6/12 Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
- Day 9 of 10 - BPO Discussions, BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches My apologies about the bouncing emails yesterday, the issue is being addressed. As we close the youth and gender debate, I do recognize that some issues may be pending on this so feel free to address them but under the right subject header. I also noticed that there were queries about the labour laws and Employment Act and maybe we can revisit this at the right time. However, we have two days to discuss the final theme beginning today. This theme synthesizes the strengths that make South Africa, India, Mauritius and Kenya choice BPO destinations. It also synthesizes the countries’ weaknesses. Finally, the synthesis includes observations from the USA and UK as sources of outsourced work, the trends in BPO and the niches the selected countries have pursued or are likely to pursue. The following is a summary of the research findings; a more detailed summary is attached. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES The researchers found that some of India’s strengths include government championship, the government works closely with NASCCOM (National Association of Software Services Companies) and involves NASCCOM in all policy decision making regarding the industry. India generally has a large pool of science, technology and engineering graduates which has made it a preferred destination for high end knowledge process outsourcing. In addition, there are tax incentives; National Skills registry (NSR) to facilitate personnel background checks; and investors have single window clearance for License application. South Africa on the other hand also has clear government championship for the BPO sector evidenced by the fact that investors and potential vendors are wooed from the Office of the President. There is also commitment to regulatory changes when required. There is an effective marketing strategy (target marketing and perception management), which has made many in the world perceive South Africa to be politically and economically stable. There is world class connectivity; S. Africa has 10 international airports, an excellent road and railway network.
Mauritiusstrengths include good ratings from the World Bank ‘Doing Business Indicators’ which ranks the country at position 24 for favourable investment climate and number 11 for protecting investors and 7 for starting a business. In addition, it is a multilingual country (with two European languages) so it is an attractive destination for both English and French speaking clients. Some of the key strengths that make Kenya a choice destination for outsourcing is that it is a good place to work and holiday (temperate weather and beautiful country). Indeed, many senior people working for bilateral or international organizations have preferred to live in Kenya after the end of their contracts. Kenya also has government championship of the BPO industry. The country is strategically located and a regional hub for communications and finance. Kenyans generally have a good English accent for English speaking clients.
Weaknesses were also assessed in all four countries. In India, for example, there has/was an international backlash due to security breaches that made some companies pulled out of India. There is also the issue of high cost of electricity. Another factor is the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience especially for call centre work for international clients. In S. Africa the cost of operation is still high compared to other outsourcing destinations. Also, even though there are BPO specific incentives, investors are yet to take advantage of these because of the strict qualification criteria.
In Mauritius some of the weaknesses highlighted were the negative perception of working in 24/7 environment and many Mauritians cannot imagine working at night. Secondly, Internet and mobile communication tariffs are still high despite liberalization and presence of the submarine cable. Finally, in Kenya, I will emphasize a little more, there is a perception in client countries thatKenya is not politically stable. It also appears that Kenya lacks an effective marketing strategy. Some believe that Kenya is sending the wrong people to woo investors. There is lack of coordination and perceived ‘bad blood’ between some of the key institutions and groups that represent this industry; this is also evident to client countries like in the UK. This is not helped with the soaring electricity costs combined with the high amount of power outages which has made the cost of doing business very high as companies have to invest in generators.Of course, the state of the road infrastructure is wanting and the issue of constant traffic jams causing loss of productive time.
USA and UK: The attached summary has some analysis from the USA and UK which includes their preferred outsourcing destination. In the USA, the top ten (10) preferred outsourcing destinations, in order of preference are: 1. Rural or Small Town USA (via Indian Companies), 2. India, 3. Eastern & Central Europe, 4. UK & Ireland (areas of high unemployment), 5. South America, 6. Mexico, 7. Philippines, 8. Canada, 9. Russia and 10. Middle East. It can be noted that Africa does not feature. In the UK, the perceived best three destinations as voted during NOA’s 2008 (www.noa.co.uk.index.php/awrds ) annual awards: 1. Egypt, 2. Romania and 3. Philippines. NICHE AREAS Some of the proposed niche areas for the vendor countries are:
India: The niche areas for India are a little hard to perceive as they were front-runners in the BPO industry amongst developing countries. Over time they have found that some of their niche areas are in remote ICT systems maintenance, software development, and numerical analysis for various companies.In addition, they have capitalized on their experience and historical advantage and are now outsourcing work (or assisting the client countries to outsource work) to destinations where they do not have the comparative advantage. A case in point is actuarial work to South Africa.
South Africa: Great potential in the banking sector. South Africa also has excellent actuarial and insurance services. It is common to find people who may source work to India because it is cheaper but are now taking some of the actuarial work to South Africa as they will find the skill sets that they may not get as easily in India or Philippines. This trend may increase as they are willing to pay the optimum price for these skill sets not necessarily the cheapest price.
Mauritius: Mauritius’s greatest niche comes from the fact that the country is generally multilingual in two European languages (English and French). Many of the current BPO work in developing countries are amongst English speakers and they definitely need contacts who can also work with their potential French clientele. Mauritius is a good destination for back office transcription and translation services. It may also be a good destination for front office work that needs translation (English-French).
Kenya:Kenya appears to be an excellent destination for some types of back office work. These include financial services (accounting and payroll services) and legal work as there is a highly educated population in these areas. It can be argued that there may be an opportunity for front office (call centre work) as many say the Kenyan accent is neutral though there has to be training in this area to ensure there is standardization so Kenya can avoid many of India’s mistakes. There is clearly an opportunity for transcription and translation services (based on fact that multi-lingual workers are easy to find). Due to the predominance of the tourism and hospitality industries in the economy, customer service orientation is high amongst trained Kenyans.
Discussion Q12.There are many institutions marketing Kenya and are not doing a good job of it and/or are not working from the same script. What institutional set up should we have for marketing Kenya for BPO&O and how can we improve the coordination and the similarity of the messages? Discussion Q13. Consider the following three examples. One, South Africa has many challenges, some of which, like security, are more serious than those for Kenya. However, many in the world perceive South Africa as a worthwhile destination in Africa. A lot of work has been done by the South African Government to create this perception. Two, India’s cost of electricity is as high and unreliable as Kenya’s. However, India is still the number one BPO destination. Three, there is the issue of the heavy Indian accent which has resulted in poor customer experience. Consequently, there are jobs that are going back on-shore to the client countries. Some of these clients are willing to outsource again to the right destination where accent will not be a major problem. This was confirmed in interviews in the UK. Given the strengths of Kenya, the opportunities available locally and abroad, and the lessons from other outsourcing destinations, what key marketing strategies should Kenya adopt? Discussion Q14. Given the findings reported here and the discussions that we have had here on KICTANET in the last two weeks, what niche(s) do you think Kenya should pursue?
I know the Bugdet 2009-2010 issues may be upper most in your minds but let us focus on bringing this excellent 10 day discussion to fruition. I thank you in advance. Nyaki
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Members India: The niche areas for India are a little hard to perceive as they were front-runners in the BPO industry amongst developing countries The above statement is a misconception and would be misleading. I know a bit of India and what goes on in that country. India has very good software engineers which can be trusted by Microsoft to help them in coding of their applications. As we aspire to establish a BPO outfit, we imagine setting up an illustrious office in up market environment with 100^ seats. In India, they put more emphasis on cottage industries, what office space does a good and reliable programmer need to code parts of Windows operating system? Our strengths. Accountants, Medics, Radiographers, Programmers, Engineers, Translators, Researchers, Teachers, Actuaries, Etc Weaknesses We are slowly slipping in the same predicament that befell us when ICT was introduced in offices as a tool that would facilitate retrenchment, when we state that accounting etc can be given to an outsourcing company which might not be an accounting firm, what message are we sending out there? We need to involve everybody in this matter, in my understanding organisations such as auditing firms, research firms have been involved in outsourcing for a long period of time! Way forward The BPO needs to demystify the industry. We need to guide accountants on how to outsource accounting services to a Japanese company, in the same way a programmer can provide services to a pharmaceutical company in regards to malaria patient’s management. With the broadband available nationally, a teacher in Wajir can teach American students Kiswahili. An outsourcing company can organise theme programmes – can invite Osewe of Ranalo to teach Aussies how to prepare nyama choma. Also outsourcing need to audit their strengths as either engineering therefore employ engineers, call centre management therefore employ marketing fellows with good accent. All this should be coordinated by a substantive office which will market all this abroad. At the moment confusing though! Sam Aguyo
A great way to begin the discussions so far is from Victor who quoted a wise man who once said "if you stop to kick at every dog that barks at you, you couldn't get very far". He said that rather than get discouraged and try to win over the nay-sayers, the BPO industry should view this as a challenge to prove them wrong while laughing all the way to the bank, a la Vodaphone/SafariCom. Victor, how apt. I take this opportunity to thank all the contributors so far on this theme include Dr. Ndemo, Alice, Victor, Sam, Wainana and Eric. Alice has suggested that we should consider the just landed TEAMs cable as one of our strengths and niche areas. Meanwhile, Dr Ndemo is concerned that our greatness weakness is negativity. We Kenyans rarely see the good in anything. He noted that we see competitors as enemies instead of embracing them and working for the country. And we will not go far unless we rid of ourselves of this and we should be careful as foreigners also capitalize on these differences. How apt again! Eric agrees with him that ATTITUDES are our KILLER APP. Wainaina adds that the key lies in our BPO branding which should be part of a national branding effort. He challenged our media to stop feeding the stereotypes like the 'mungiki' image of Kenya; or the notion that we are helplessly corrupt. He suggests that we must communicate a message like PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN brand that has diverted many opportunities their way inspite of their crime levels. Again how apt! And dare I add that we should strive to wash our dirty linen at home and not in public…. Sam Aguyo, your knowledge of the Indians is certainly useful as there are some things a research study may not glean well hence the difficulty with clearly identifying India’s niche area. Thanks for the contribution on the niche areas for Kenya including accountants, engineers etc, though I believe ‘researchers’ is too general and needs to be qualified if we really want to identify a niche. He notes auditing firms and research firms have been outsourcing for a long time. I encourage you to read his whole input, insightful indeed. So as we wind up this Sunday and after a great week, with a favourable budget for the ICT industry, landing of the TEAMs cable…I would like to encourage you all to continue the discussions on this theme tomorrow Monday 15th June especially fleshing out the niche areas for Kenya amidst our strengths and weaknesses. If you do not see me online tomorrow for a little while (like the way I disappeared on Saturday), I am very much with you just blame it on my Safcom Bamba…it has a tendency to serve me well sometimes but equally to frustrate me when it matters most. Nyaki
Catherine, some barking dogs are causing untold pain to our people. Hate against Kenyans in Tanzania is at its worst. Irrespective who you are, you are refered to as Mungiki who is after grabbing Tanzanian land. Whom do you think created this image for our people? Mungiki is more of any economic crisis in our country but our Media has refused to link the two. We lack analytical depth in our media houses. What you read is petty fitina. When a media house purpots that "Cable lands into financial trouble" do you think such media has the interests of this country at heart? If they did they should have asked the right questions before publishing. I do not think they have a clue how such any article impacts the country negatively. The audience of what is published locally is not only Kenyan people who read it. We must love our country and stop hoping that someone else will change our image. The sad part is that all of what has been read throughout the world are all lies. Some people reading this may never know that it was not true. This what I meant to say that negativity will fail us and we should check every barking dog. Ndemo Sent from my BlackBerry® -----Original Message----- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com> Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:36:34 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: bitange@jambo.co.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke
Dr. Ndemo, You have captured very well the problem with us Kenyans. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that we have very many people who are positive and are doing very good things for this country. But they are drowned by the bad elements amongst us. However, things will not change if we do not make a deliberate change intervention. According to me, it will be almost impossible to achieve V2030 with this attitude. We must change.I strongly believe that there is a 4th pillar that V2030 conceptualization missed - NATIONAL COHESION. It is what is required to move forward and fulfil the other plans. We could therefore argue that we need to sell Kenya to Kenyans before we go out to foreigners. Otherwise all the positive messages that will be put out there in selling Kenya to investors by whoever (assuming we can get this right in the first instance) will soon be negated by the bad attitudes that you speak of. And who said Kenya must be developed by outsiders? I hope I have not sounded like a barking dog. tim mwololo On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 12:16 AM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Catherine, some barking dogs are causing untold pain to our people. Hate against Kenyans in Tanzania is at its worst. Irrespective who you are, you are refered to as Mungiki who is after grabbing Tanzanian land. Whom do you think created this image for our people?
Mungiki is more of any economic crisis in our country but our Media has refused to link the two. We lack analytical depth in our media houses. What you read is petty fitina. When a media house purpots that "Cable lands into financial trouble" do you think such media has the interests of this country at heart? If they did they should have asked the right questions before publishing. I do not think they have a clue how such any article impacts the country negatively.
The audience of what is published locally is not only Kenyan people who read it. We must love our country and stop hoping that someone else will change our image. The sad part is that all of what has been read throughout the world are all lies. Some people reading this may never know that it was not true.
This what I meant to say that negativity will fail us and we should check every barking dog.
Ndemo
Sent from my BlackBerry®
-----Original Message----- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:36:34 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
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Prof. We should understand the impact of internet better. Our papers are on-line and they contribute the greatest content out there. A potential investor trying to surf the net, gets mostly negative information. I am not against our media but they could do better in setting the agenda. A few examples may help here. It is not only Kenya that has suffered the youth bulge. This is something that has affected countries world over. The US suffered in the 1930's leading the country to get rid of the problem by investing heavily on public works and the war. In China they put much of their people into labour intensive public works (roads, energy, ICTs ets). While they did this they also suffered a high rate of crime. This is how the Al Capones came up. Italy has had a mafia crisis over a long period of time but the media there did not only focus on crime. They suggested economic solutions that have helped reduce crime in the south go down. When we write about mungiki, we should also suggest a way forward. We must also create hope for our people because we are all responsible for what happens in our land. The recent US elections were all about hope that things will change. Look at the Uhuru Budget. It was a budget of hope. But read our yesterday papers. While one Media house attempted to create hope. The other focused on hopelessness - "the devil is in the details" - yet for once we were united in hope for our future. I had expected many positive headlines out of the budget but I was disappointed. This is a budget we should have leveraged to create a new Kenya. A Kenya where we all have hope. It gave us our much a waited new constitution. That we can devolve our resources based on the districts. That we may not need to dismantle a constitution that has relatively served us well for more than 40 years. That we may need only Parliament to amend only the governance aspects of our constitution as many civilized countries do. This where media had a chance to set the agenda for this country but they have yet again wasted the opportunity. It is not too late for them to bring hope. The Vision 2030 can be achieved if we all agree that it will bring the desired change. I am glad we deviated a little but this discussion will shape our future policies. Where we all respect one another. Regards Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
You have captured very well the problem with us Kenyans. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that we have very many people who are positive and are doing very good things for this country. But they are drowned by the bad elements amongst us. However, things will not change if we do not make a deliberate change intervention. According to me, it will be almost impossible to achieve V2030 with this attitude. We must change.I strongly believe that there is a 4th pillar that V2030 conceptualization missed - NATIONAL COHESION. It is what is required to move forward and fulfil the other plans. We could therefore argue that we need to sell Kenya to Kenyans before we go out to foreigners. Otherwise all the positive messages that will be put out there in selling Kenya to investors by whoever (assuming we can get this right in the first instance) will soon be negated by the bad attitudes that you speak of. And who said Kenya must be developed by outsiders?
I hope I have not sounded like a barking dog.
tim mwololo
On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 12:16 AM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Catherine, some barking dogs are causing untold pain to our people. Hate against Kenyans in Tanzania is at its worst. Irrespective who you are, you are refered to as Mungiki who is after grabbing Tanzanian land. Whom do you think created this image for our people?
Mungiki is more of any economic crisis in our country but our Media has refused to link the two. We lack analytical depth in our media houses. What you read is petty fitina. When a media house purpots that "Cable lands into financial trouble" do you think such media has the interests of this country at heart? If they did they should have asked the right questions before publishing. I do not think they have a clue how such any article impacts the country negatively.
The audience of what is published locally is not only Kenyan people who read it. We must love our country and stop hoping that someone else will change our image. The sad part is that all of what has been read throughout the world are all lies. Some people reading this may never know that it was not true.
This what I meant to say that negativity will fail us and we should check every barking dog.
Ndemo
Sent from my BlackBerry®
-----Original Message----- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:36:34 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
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Dr. Ndemo, I stopped watching news in the local media a while back. Too much negative stuff affecting the peace and tranquility I expect in my home. There is a lot of crime in S.A. yet the country is geared to host the World Cup come next year. How are they working to make it a success? I support you fully. It is high time we Kenyans started to think nationally as a nation. To look at the positives. We live in a real world and things will not always be perfect in any country, Kenya included. Therefore we should promote the positive aspects of Kenya first before we can expect outsiders to support us. Sammy Buruchara CEO NairobiNet Ltd -----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of bitange@jambo.co.ke Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:11 PM To: sammy@opensystems.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches Prof. We should understand the impact of internet better. Our papers are on-line and they contribute the greatest content out there. A potential investor trying to surf the net, gets mostly negative information. I am not against our media but they could do better in setting the agenda. A few examples may help here. It is not only Kenya that has suffered the youth bulge. This is something that has affected countries world over. The US suffered in the 1930's leading the country to get rid of the problem by investing heavily on public works and the war. In China they put much of their people into labour intensive public works (roads, energy, ICTs ets). While they did this they also suffered a high rate of crime. This is how the Al Capones came up. Italy has had a mafia crisis over a long period of time but the media there did not only focus on crime. They suggested economic solutions that have helped reduce crime in the south go down. When we write about mungiki, we should also suggest a way forward. We must also create hope for our people because we are all responsible for what happens in our land. The recent US elections were all about hope that things will change. Look at the Uhuru Budget. It was a budget of hope. But read our yesterday papers. While one Media house attempted to create hope. The other focused on hopelessness - "the devil is in the details" - yet for once we were united in hope for our future. I had expected many positive headlines out of the budget but I was disappointed. This is a budget we should have leveraged to create a new Kenya. A Kenya where we all have hope. It gave us our much a waited new constitution. That we can devolve our resources based on the districts. That we may not need to dismantle a constitution that has relatively served us well for more than 40 years. That we may need only Parliament to amend only the governance aspects of our constitution as many civilized countries do. This where media had a chance to set the agenda for this country but they have yet again wasted the opportunity. It is not too late for them to bring hope. The Vision 2030 can be achieved if we all agree that it will bring the desired change. I am glad we deviated a little but this discussion will shape our future policies. Where we all respect one another. Regards Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
You have captured very well the problem with us Kenyans. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that we have very many people who are positive and are doing very good things for this country. But they are drowned by the bad elements amongst us. However, things will not change if we do not make a deliberate change intervention. According to me, it will be almost impossible to achieve V2030 with this attitude. We must change.I strongly believe that there is a 4th pillar that V2030 conceptualization missed - NATIONAL COHESION. It is what is required to move forward and fulfil the other plans. We could therefore argue that we need to sell Kenya to Kenyans before we go out to foreigners. Otherwise all the positive messages that will be put out there in selling Kenya to investors by whoever (assuming we can get this right in the first instance) will soon be negated by the bad attitudes that you speak of. And who said Kenya must be developed by outsiders?
I hope I have not sounded like a barking dog.
tim mwololo
On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 12:16 AM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Catherine, some barking dogs are causing untold pain to our people. Hate against Kenyans in Tanzania is at its worst. Irrespective who you are, you are refered to as Mungiki who is after grabbing Tanzanian land. Whom do you think created this image for our people?
Mungiki is more of any economic crisis in our country but our Media has refused to link the two. We lack analytical depth in our media houses. What you read is petty fitina. When a media house purpots that "Cable lands into financial trouble" do you think such media has the interests of this country at heart? If they did they should have asked the right questions before publishing. I do not think they have a clue how such any article impacts the country negatively.
The audience of what is published locally is not only Kenyan people who read it. We must love our country and stop hoping that someone else will change our image. The sad part is that all of what has been read throughout the world are all lies. Some people reading this may never know that it was not true.
This what I meant to say that negativity will fail us and we should check every barking dog.
Ndemo
Sent from my BlackBerryR
-----Original Message----- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:36:34 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
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Listers, Please take a moment and see what is on-line from our papers today and understand what I am trying to say. You cannot convince even our people in the diaspora to invest in Kenya. Compare that with what SA has on the web from their papers. They have managed their violence especially on foreingners well even as it continues. We are showing machetes to investors without critical analysis and how we see the future of our country. The few potential investors I met this morning are distgusted with what they see. Allow me to request my brother Linus who is on this list to remove the picture please. Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
I stopped watching news in the local media a while back. Too much negative stuff affecting the peace and tranquility I expect in my home.
There is a lot of crime in S.A. yet the country is geared to host the World Cup come next year. How are they working to make it a success?
I support you fully. It is high time we Kenyans started to think nationally as a nation. To look at the positives. We live in a real world and things will not always be perfect in any country, Kenya included. Therefore we should promote the positive aspects of Kenya first before we can expect outsiders to support us.
Sammy Buruchara CEO NairobiNet Ltd
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of bitange@jambo.co.ke Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:11 PM To: sammy@opensystems.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
Prof. We should understand the impact of internet better. Our papers are on-line and they contribute the greatest content out there. A potential investor trying to surf the net, gets mostly negative information. I am not against our media but they could do better in setting the agenda. A few examples may help here.
It is not only Kenya that has suffered the youth bulge. This is something that has affected countries world over. The US suffered in the 1930's leading the country to get rid of the problem by investing heavily on public works and the war. In China they put much of their people into labour intensive public works (roads, energy, ICTs ets). While they did this they also suffered a high rate of crime. This is how the Al Capones came up. Italy has had a mafia crisis over a long period of time but the media there did not only focus on crime. They suggested economic solutions that have helped reduce crime in the south go down. When we write about mungiki, we should also suggest a way forward. We must also create hope for our people because we are all responsible for what happens in our land.
The recent US elections were all about hope that things will change. Look at the Uhuru Budget. It was a budget of hope. But read our yesterday papers. While one Media house attempted to create hope. The other focused on hopelessness - "the devil is in the details" - yet for once we were united in hope for our future. I had expected many positive headlines out of the budget but I was disappointed. This is a budget we should have leveraged to create a new Kenya. A Kenya where we all have hope. It gave us our much a waited new constitution. That we can devolve our resources based on the districts. That we may not need to dismantle a constitution that has relatively served us well for more than 40 years. That we may need only Parliament to amend only the governance aspects of our constitution as many civilized countries do. This where media had a chance to set the agenda for this country but they have yet again wasted the opportunity. It is not too late for them to bring hope. The Vision 2030 can be achieved if we all agree that it will bring the desired change.
I am glad we deviated a little but this discussion will shape our future policies. Where we all respect one another.
Regards
Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
You have captured very well the problem with us Kenyans. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that we have very many people who are positive and are doing very good things for this country. But they are drowned by the bad elements amongst us. However, things will not change if we do not make a deliberate change intervention. According to me, it will be almost impossible to achieve V2030 with this attitude. We must change.I strongly believe that there is a 4th pillar that V2030 conceptualization missed - NATIONAL COHESION. It is what is required to move forward and fulfil the other plans. We could therefore argue that we need to sell Kenya to Kenyans before we go out to foreigners. Otherwise all the positive messages that will be put out there in selling Kenya to investors by whoever (assuming we can get this right in the first instance) will soon be negated by the bad attitudes that you speak of. And who said Kenya must be developed by outsiders?
I hope I have not sounded like a barking dog.
tim mwololo
On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 12:16 AM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Catherine, some barking dogs are causing untold pain to our people. Hate against Kenyans in Tanzania is at its worst. Irrespective who you are, you are refered to as Mungiki who is after grabbing Tanzanian land. Whom do you think created this image for our people?
Mungiki is more of any economic crisis in our country but our Media has refused to link the two. We lack analytical depth in our media houses. What you read is petty fitina. When a media house purpots that "Cable lands into financial trouble" do you think such media has the interests of this country at heart? If they did they should have asked the right questions before publishing. I do not think they have a clue how such any article impacts the country negatively.
The audience of what is published locally is not only Kenyan people who read it. We must love our country and stop hoping that someone else will change our image. The sad part is that all of what has been read throughout the world are all lies. Some people reading this may never know that it was not true.
This what I meant to say that negativity will fail us and we should check every barking dog.
Ndemo
Sent from my BlackBerryR
-----Original Message----- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:36:34 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
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I wonder, does the media report for outsiders or kenyans who need the info to make decisions in their daily lives? We live right here and the media has a duty to report reality not make-believe propaganda for foreign investors. Government shud fix the corruption, insecurity, infrastructure etc to create an environment for investment not plead with the media to abdicate its obligation to report accurately. If it did that it would be an accomplice in deception. No need burying our heads in the sand for short term gain. I have been to many countries and nothing tells me the kenyan media is crazy, save for common professional shortcomings. If govt functioned half as much as the media in the pursuit of greater kenya, we wud be far! Last nite hundreds of pepole, me included, were stranded at moi airport in msa because there were no lights on the runway so no planes could land or take off. I dont know how many pple missed their connecting international flights but that does more damage to investor confidence than crime reports. I read those everywhere i go but not about airports that have no lights. And that takes just a generator. Or is that among the unspecified services that the mysterious 1.5b in the budget will cater for? Long shot. Bottomline- the media cant just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There is the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported. Besides, it will be the same media that will be whipped for keeping quiet when things were going wrong. Remember the election fiasco? Yes, better blame the media now rather than later for not warning of the danger lurking in our midst. Dont beseech the media to join in the collective national amnesia and deception of the world. Ask the govt to deal with the issues. David Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -----Original Message----- From: bitange@jambo.co.ke Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:37:06 To: <dmakali@yahoo.com> Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches Listers, Please take a moment and see what is on-line from our papers today and understand what I am trying to say. You cannot convince even our people in the diaspora to invest in Kenya. Compare that with what SA has on the web from their papers. They have managed their violence especially on foreingners well even as it continues. We are showing machetes to investors without critical analysis and how we see the future of our country. The few potential investors I met this morning are distgusted with what they see. Allow me to request my brother Linus who is on this list to remove the picture please. Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
I stopped watching news in the local media a while back. Too much negative stuff affecting the peace and tranquility I expect in my home.
There is a lot of crime in S.A. yet the country is geared to host the World Cup come next year. How are they working to make it a success?
I support you fully. It is high time we Kenyans started to think nationally as a nation. To look at the positives. We live in a real world and things will not always be perfect in any country, Kenya included. Therefore we should promote the positive aspects of Kenya first before we can expect outsiders to support us.
Sammy Buruchara CEO NairobiNet Ltd
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of bitange@jambo.co.ke Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:11 PM To: sammy@opensystems.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
Prof. We should understand the impact of internet better. Our papers are on-line and they contribute the greatest content out there. A potential investor trying to surf the net, gets mostly negative information. I am not against our media but they could do better in setting the agenda. A few examples may help here.
It is not only Kenya that has suffered the youth bulge. This is something that has affected countries world over. The US suffered in the 1930's leading the country to get rid of the problem by investing heavily on public works and the war. In China they put much of their people into labour intensive public works (roads, energy, ICTs ets). While they did this they also suffered a high rate of crime. This is how the Al Capones came up. Italy has had a mafia crisis over a long period of time but the media there did not only focus on crime. They suggested economic solutions that have helped reduce crime in the south go down. When we write about mungiki, we should also suggest a way forward. We must also create hope for our people because we are all responsible for what happens in our land.
The recent US elections were all about hope that things will change. Look at the Uhuru Budget. It was a budget of hope. But read our yesterday papers. While one Media house attempted to create hope. The other focused on hopelessness - "the devil is in the details" - yet for once we were united in hope for our future. I had expected many positive headlines out of the budget but I was disappointed. This is a budget we should have leveraged to create a new Kenya. A Kenya where we all have hope. It gave us our much a waited new constitution. That we can devolve our resources based on the districts. That we may not need to dismantle a constitution that has relatively served us well for more than 40 years. That we may need only Parliament to amend only the governance aspects of our constitution as many civilized countries do. This where media had a chance to set the agenda for this country but they have yet again wasted the opportunity. It is not too late for them to bring hope. The Vision 2030 can be achieved if we all agree that it will bring the desired change.
I am glad we deviated a little but this discussion will shape our future policies. Where we all respect one another.
Regards
Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
You have captured very well the problem with us Kenyans. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that we have very many people who are positive and are doing very good things for this country. But they are drowned by the bad elements amongst us. However, things will not change if we do not make a deliberate change intervention. According to me, it will be almost impossible to achieve V2030 with this attitude. We must change.I strongly believe that there is a 4th pillar that V2030 conceptualization missed - NATIONAL COHESION. It is what is required to move forward and fulfil the other plans. We could therefore argue that we need to sell Kenya to Kenyans before we go out to foreigners. Otherwise all the positive messages that will be put out there in selling Kenya to investors by whoever (assuming we can get this right in the first instance) will soon be negated by the bad attitudes that you speak of. And who said Kenya must be developed by outsiders?
I hope I have not sounded like a barking dog.
tim mwololo
On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 12:16 AM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Catherine, some barking dogs are causing untold pain to our people. Hate against Kenyans in Tanzania is at its worst. Irrespective who you are, you are refered to as Mungiki who is after grabbing Tanzanian land. Whom do you think created this image for our people?
Mungiki is more of any economic crisis in our country but our Media has refused to link the two. We lack analytical depth in our media houses. What you read is petty fitina. When a media house purpots that "Cable lands into financial trouble" do you think such media has the interests of this country at heart? If they did they should have asked the right questions before publishing. I do not think they have a clue how such any article impacts the country negatively.
The audience of what is published locally is not only Kenyan people who read it. We must love our country and stop hoping that someone else will change our image. The sad part is that all of what has been read throughout the world are all lies. Some people reading this may never know that it was not true.
This what I meant to say that negativity will fail us and we should check every barking dog.
Ndemo
Sent from my BlackBerryR
-----Original Message----- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:36:34 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
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Thank you mr david, what you say is known as investigative journalism or public journalism whereby the media will unearth hidden issues for the public to see for the sake of development.But when it comes to matter of security and insecurity the principle of telling the truth,telling the facts and minimize harm apply.There is point of the media of publishing or carrying stories of inflamming mayhem for the sake of fulfilling their responsibility.I strongly believe that the Kenyan public whom the media should serve will not appreciate stories which maximize harm and mayhem Karsan from Tanzania
From: dmakali@yahoo.com Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:06:59 +0000 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, StrengthsandWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches CC: kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke To: msabila@hotmail.com
I wonder, does the media report for outsiders or kenyans who need the info to make decisions in their daily lives? We live right here and the media has a duty to report reality not make-believe propaganda for foreign investors. Government shud fix the corruption, insecurity, infrastructure etc to create an environment for investment not plead with the media to abdicate its obligation to report accurately. If it did that it would be an accomplice in deception. No need burying our heads in the sand for short term gain. I have been to many countries and nothing tells me the kenyan media is crazy, save for common professional shortcomings. If govt functioned half as much as the media in the pursuit of greater kenya, we wud be far! Last nite hundreds of pepole, me included, were stranded at moi airport in msa because there were no lights on the runway so no planes could land or take off. I dont know how many pple missed their connecting international flights but that does more damage to investor confidence than crime reports. I read those everywhere i go but not about airports that have no lights. And that takes just a generator. Or is that among the unspecified services that the mysterious 1.5b in the budget will cater for? Long shot. Bottomline- the media cant just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There is the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported. Besides, it will be the same media that will be whipped for keeping quiet when things were going wrong. Remember the election fiasco? Yes, better blame the media now rather than later for not warning of the danger lurking in our midst. Dont beseech the media to join in the collective national amnesia and deception of the world. Ask the govt to deal with the issues.
David Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
-----Original Message----- From: bitange@jambo.co.ke
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:37:06 To: <dmakali@yahoo.com> Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
Listers, Please take a moment and see what is on-line from our papers today and understand what I am trying to say. You cannot convince even our people in the diaspora to invest in Kenya. Compare that with what SA has on the web from their papers. They have managed their violence especially on foreingners well even as it continues. We are showing machetes to investors without critical analysis and how we see the future of our country.
The few potential investors I met this morning are distgusted with what they see. Allow me to request my brother Linus who is on this list to remove the picture please.
Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
I stopped watching news in the local media a while back. Too much negative stuff affecting the peace and tranquility I expect in my home.
There is a lot of crime in S.A. yet the country is geared to host the World Cup come next year. How are they working to make it a success?
I support you fully. It is high time we Kenyans started to think nationally as a nation. To look at the positives. We live in a real world and things will not always be perfect in any country, Kenya included. Therefore we should promote the positive aspects of Kenya first before we can expect outsiders to support us.
Sammy Buruchara CEO NairobiNet Ltd
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of bitange@jambo.co.ke Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:11 PM To: sammy@opensystems.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
Prof. We should understand the impact of internet better. Our papers are on-line and they contribute the greatest content out there. A potential investor trying to surf the net, gets mostly negative information. I am not against our media but they could do better in setting the agenda. A few examples may help here.
It is not only Kenya that has suffered the youth bulge. This is something that has affected countries world over. The US suffered in the 1930's leading the country to get rid of the problem by investing heavily on public works and the war. In China they put much of their people into labour intensive public works (roads, energy, ICTs ets). While they did this they also suffered a high rate of crime. This is how the Al Capones came up. Italy has had a mafia crisis over a long period of time but the media there did not only focus on crime. They suggested economic solutions that have helped reduce crime in the south go down. When we write about mungiki, we should also suggest a way forward. We must also create hope for our people because we are all responsible for what happens in our land.
The recent US elections were all about hope that things will change. Look at the Uhuru Budget. It was a budget of hope. But read our yesterday papers. While one Media house attempted to create hope. The other focused on hopelessness - "the devil is in the details" - yet for once we were united in hope for our future. I had expected many positive headlines out of the budget but I was disappointed. This is a budget we should have leveraged to create a new Kenya. A Kenya where we all have hope. It gave us our much a waited new constitution. That we can devolve our resources based on the districts. That we may not need to dismantle a constitution that has relatively served us well for more than 40 years. That we may need only Parliament to amend only the governance aspects of our constitution as many civilized countries do. This where media had a chance to set the agenda for this country but they have yet again wasted the opportunity. It is not too late for them to bring hope. The Vision 2030 can be achieved if we all agree that it will bring the desired change.
I am glad we deviated a little but this discussion will shape our future policies. Where we all respect one another.
Regards
Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
You have captured very well the problem with us Kenyans. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that we have very many people who are positive and are doing very good things for this country. But they are drowned by the bad elements amongst us. However, things will not change if we do not make a deliberate change intervention. According to me, it will be almost impossible to achieve V2030 with this attitude. We must change.I strongly believe that there is a 4th pillar that V2030 conceptualization missed - NATIONAL COHESION. It is what is required to move forward and fulfil the other plans. We could therefore argue that we need to sell Kenya to Kenyans before we go out to foreigners. Otherwise all the positive messages that will be put out there in selling Kenya to investors by whoever (assuming we can get this right in the first instance) will soon be negated by the bad attitudes that you speak of. And who said Kenya must be developed by outsiders?
I hope I have not sounded like a barking dog.
tim mwololo
On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 12:16 AM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Catherine, some barking dogs are causing untold pain to our people. Hate against Kenyans in Tanzania is at its worst. Irrespective who you are, you are refered to as Mungiki who is after grabbing Tanzanian land. Whom do you think created this image for our people?
Mungiki is more of any economic crisis in our country but our Media has refused to link the two. We lack analytical depth in our media houses. What you read is petty fitina. When a media house purpots that "Cable lands into financial trouble" do you think such media has the interests of this country at heart? If they did they should have asked the right questions before publishing. I do not think they have a clue how such any article impacts the country negatively.
The audience of what is published locally is not only Kenyan people who read it. We must love our country and stop hoping that someone else will change our image. The sad part is that all of what has been read throughout the world are all lies. Some people reading this may never know that it was not true.
This what I meant to say that negativity will fail us and we should check every barking dog.
Ndemo
Sent from my BlackBerryR
-----Original Message----- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:36:34 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
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Makali, thank you for your viewpoint from the media interesting since we were striving to 'smoke you out', so Makali how do we find a realistic balance between the concerns that Dr. Ndemo and so many others express and the media viewpoint. How can we brand Kenya better to improve on the negative image that so many have of us compared to SA which equally has the same challenges? Basically where do we draw the line between positivity and negativity........for the sake of the country and potential investors? Nyaki ________________________________ From: "dmakali@yahoo.com" <dmakali@yahoo.com> To: elizaslider@yahoo.com Cc: kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 5:06:59 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, StrengthsandWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches I wonder, does the media report for outsiders or kenyans who need the info to make decisions in their daily lives? We live right here and the media has a duty to report reality not make-believe propaganda for foreign investors. Government shud fix the corruption, insecurity, infrastructure etc to create an environment for investment not plead with the media to abdicate its obligation to report accurately. If it did that it would be an accomplice in deception. No need burying our heads in the sand for short term gain. I have been to many countries and nothing tells me the kenyan media is crazy, save for common professional shortcomings. If govt functioned half as much as the media in the pursuit of greater kenya, we wud be far! Last nite hundreds of pepole, me included, were stranded at moi airport in msa because there were no lights on the runway so no planes could land or take off. I dont know how many pple missed their connecting international flights but that does more damage to investor confidence than crime reports. I read those everywhere i go but not about airports that have no lights. And that takes just a generator. Or is that among the unspecified services that the mysterious 1.5b in the budget will cater for? Long shot. Bottomline- the media cant just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There is the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported. Besides, it will be the same media that will be whipped for keeping quiet when things were going wrong. Remember the election fiasco? Yes, better blame the media now rather than later for not warning of the danger lurking in our midst. Dont beseech the media to join in the collective national amnesia and deception of the world. Ask the govt to deal with the issues. David Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -----Original Message----- From: bitange@jambo.co.ke Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:37:06 To: <dmakali@yahoo.com> Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches Listers, Please take a moment and see what is on-line from our papers today and understand what I am trying to say. You cannot convince even our people in the diaspora to invest in Kenya. Compare that with what SA has on the web from their papers. They have managed their violence especially on foreingners well even as it continues. We are showing machetes to investors without critical analysis and how we see the future of our country. The few potential investors I met this morning are distgusted with what they see. Allow me to request my brother Linus who is on this list to remove the picture please. Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
I stopped watching news in the local media a while back. Too much negative stuff affecting the peace and tranquility I expect in my home.
There is a lot of crime in S.A. yet the country is geared to host the World Cup come next year. How are they working to make it a success?
I support you fully. It is high time we Kenyans started to think nationally as a nation. To look at the positives. We live in a real world and things will not always be perfect in any country, Kenya included. Therefore we should promote the positive aspects of Kenya first before we can expect outsiders to support us.
Sammy Buruchara CEO NairobiNet Ltd
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of bitange@jambo.co.ke Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:11 PM To: sammy@opensystems.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
Prof. We should understand the impact of internet better. Our papers are on-line and they contribute the greatest content out there. A potential investor trying to surf the net, gets mostly negative information. I am not against our media but they could do better in setting the agenda. A few examples may help here.
It is not only Kenya that has suffered the youth bulge. This is something that has affected countries world over. The US suffered in the 1930's leading the country to get rid of the problem by investing heavily on public works and the war. In China they put much of their people into labour intensive public works (roads, energy, ICTs ets). While they did this they also suffered a high rate of crime. This is how the Al Capones came up. Italy has had a mafia crisis over a long period of time but the media there did not only focus on crime. They suggested economic solutions that have helped reduce crime in the south go down. When we write about mungiki, we should also suggest a way forward. We must also create hope for our people because we are all responsible for what happens in our land.
The recent US elections were all about hope that things will change. Look at the Uhuru Budget. It was a budget of hope. But read our yesterday papers. While one Media house attempted to create hope. The other focused on hopelessness - "the devil is in the details" - yet for once we were united in hope for our future. I had expected many positive headlines out of the budget but I was disappointed. This is a budget we should have leveraged to create a new Kenya. A Kenya where we all have hope. It gave us our much a waited new constitution. That we can devolve our resources based on the districts. That we may not need to dismantle a constitution that has relatively served us well for more than 40 years. That we may need only Parliament to amend only the governance aspects of our constitution as many civilized countries do. This where media had a chance to set the agenda for this country but they have yet again wasted the opportunity. It is not too late for them to bring hope. The Vision 2030 can be achieved if we all agree that it will bring the desired change.
I am glad we deviated a little but this discussion will shape our future policies. Where we all respect one another.
Regards
Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
You have captured very well the problem with us Kenyans. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that we have very many people who are positive and are doing very good things for this country. But they are drowned by the bad elements amongst us. However, things will not change if we do not make a deliberate change intervention. According to me, it will be almost impossible to achieve V2030 with this attitude. We must change.I strongly believe that there is a 4th pillar that V2030 conceptualization missed - NATIONAL COHESION. It is what is required to move forward and fulfil the other plans. We could therefore argue that we need to sell Kenya to Kenyans before we go out to foreigners. Otherwise all the positive messages that will be put out there in selling Kenya to investors by whoever (assuming we can get this right in the first instance) will soon be negated by the bad attitudes that you speak of. And who said Kenya must be developed by outsiders?
I hope I have not sounded like a barking dog.
tim mwololo
On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 12:16 AM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Catherine, some barking dogs are causing untold pain to our people. Hate against Kenyans in Tanzania is at its worst. Irrespective who you are, you are refered to as Mungiki who is after grabbing Tanzanian land. Whom do you think created this image for our people?
Mungiki is more of any economic crisis in our country but our Media has refused to link the two. We lack analytical depth in our media houses. What you read is petty fitina. When a media house purpots that "Cable lands into financial trouble" do you think such media has the interests of this country at heart? If they did they should have asked the right questions before publishing. I do not think they have a clue how such any article impacts the country negatively.
The audience of what is published locally is not only Kenyan people who read it. We must love our country and stop hoping that someone else will change our image. The sad part is that all of what has been read throughout the world are all lies. Some people reading this may never know that it was not true.
This what I meant to say that negativity will fail us and we should check every barking dog.
Ndemo
Sent from my BlackBerryR
-----Original Message----- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:36:34 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
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---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world" _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: dmakali@yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/dmakali%40yahoo.com _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: elizaslider@yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/elizaslider%40yahoo.com
With all due respect to Mister Makali, I beg to differ with all of you that are suddenly in support of the Media now that someone from the industry has stood out to defend the accusations. What I have against the Media is the pessimism, "You claim the Fiber will do us good?, are you crazy? " What happened to "YES WE CAN?", Without specifically appearing to target Mr Makali (a good friend) who has appeared onto the scene representing the media, in his aptly titled editorial on this month's ET *"Marginalised by technology and information revolution " *here is an excerpt *ICT missionaries and government functionaries are pontificating about the opportunities for Business Process Outsourcing, digital villages, multimedia communications, Internet and digital television, and all the fantastic things that are found on the information highway. You can’t fault their knowledge or evangelical faith in the future. After all, if we are to realise their dreams, East Africa would be catapulted into the economic kingdom. If you think about it, with lightning Internet speeds and the entire kith and caboodle of efficient communications at your disposal, there is quite a bit to spur economic growth: the manufacturing and service sectors can get a new lease of life. But that is only “if”. But that is testing the bubble to the limit; * .................... The Full article: http://www.eastafricapress.net/component/content/article/175-from-the-editor... Bottom line, The media has a lot to pull up. We want more hope and less reporting about the happenings that dont contribute to much in the long run. Back to you. On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 9:02 AM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
Makali, thank you for your viewpoint from the media interesting since we were striving to 'smoke you out', so Makali how do we find a realistic balance between the concerns that Dr. Ndemo and so many others express and the media viewpoint. How can we brand Kenya better to improve on the negative image that so many have of us compared to SA which equally has the same challenges? Basically where do we draw the line between positivity and negativity........for the sake of the country and potential investors?
Nyaki
------------------------------ *From:* "dmakali@yahoo.com" <dmakali@yahoo.com> *To:* elizaslider@yahoo.com *Cc:* kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Monday, June 15, 2009 5:06:59 PM *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, StrengthsandWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
I wonder, does the media report for outsiders or kenyans who need the info to make decisions in their daily lives? We live right here and the media has a duty to report reality not make-believe propaganda for foreign investors. Government shud fix the corruption, insecurity, infrastructure etc to create an environment for investment not plead with the media to abdicate its obligation to report accurately. If it did that it would be an accomplice in deception. No need burying our heads in the sand for short term gain. I have been to many countries and nothing tells me the kenyan media is crazy, save for common professional shortcomings. If govt functioned half as much as the media in the pursuit of greater kenya, we wud be far! Last nite hundreds of pepole, me included, were stranded at moi airport in msa because there were no lights on the runway so no planes could land or take off. I dont know how many pple missed their connecting international flights but that does more damage to investor confidence than crime reports. I read those everywhere i go but not about airports that have no lights. And that takes just a generator. Or is that among the unspecified services that the mysterious 1.5b in the budget will cater for? Long shot. Bottomline- the media cant just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There is the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported. Besides, it will be the same media that will be whipped for keeping quiet when things were going wrong. Remember the election fiasco? Yes, better blame the media now rather than later for not warning of the danger lurking in our midst. Dont beseech the media to join in the collective national amnesia and deception of the world. Ask the govt to deal with the issues.
David Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
-----Original Message----- From: bitange@jambo.co.ke
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:37:06 To: <dmakali@yahoo.com> Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
Listers, Please take a moment and see what is on-line from our papers today and understand what I am trying to say. You cannot convince even our people in the diaspora to invest in Kenya. Compare that with what SA has on the web from their papers. They have managed their violence especially on foreingners well even as it continues. We are showing machetes to investors without critical analysis and how we see the future of our country.
The few potential investors I met this morning are distgusted with what they see. Allow me to request my brother Linus who is on this list to remove the picture please.
Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
I stopped watching news in the local media a while back. Too much negative stuff affecting the peace and tranquility I expect in my home.
There is a lot of crime in S.A. yet the country is geared to host the World Cup come next year. How are they working to make it a success?
I support you fully. It is high time we Kenyans started to think nationally as a nation. To look at the positives. We live in a real world and things will not always be perfect in any country, Kenya included. Therefore we should promote the positive aspects of Kenya first before we can expect outsiders to support us.
Sammy Buruchara CEO NairobiNet Ltd
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+sammy <kictanet-bounces%2Bsammy>= opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of bitange@jambo.co.ke Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:11 PM To: sammy@opensystems.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
Prof. We should understand the impact of internet better. Our papers are on-line and they contribute the greatest content out there. A potential investor trying to surf the net, gets mostly negative information. I am not against our media but they could do better in setting the agenda. A few examples may help here.
It is not only Kenya that has suffered the youth bulge. This is something that has affected countries world over. The US suffered in the 1930's leading the country to get rid of the problem by investing heavily on public works and the war. In China they put much of their people into labour intensive public works (roads, energy, ICTs ets). While they did this they also suffered a high rate of crime. This is how the Al Capones came up. Italy has had a mafia crisis over a long period of time but the media there did not only focus on crime. They suggested economic solutions that have helped reduce crime in the south go down. When we write about mungiki, we should also suggest a way forward. We must also create hope for our people because we are all responsible for what happens in our land.
The recent US elections were all about hope that things will change. Look at the Uhuru Budget. It was a budget of hope. But read our yesterday papers. While one Media house attempted to create hope. The other focused on hopelessness - "the devil is in the details" - yet for once we were united in hope for our future. I had expected many positive headlines out of the budget but I was disappointed. This is a budget we should have leveraged to create a new Kenya. A Kenya where we all have hope. It gave us our much a waited new constitution. That we can devolve our resources based on the districts. That we may not need to dismantle a constitution that has relatively served us well for more than 40 years. That we may need only Parliament to amend only the governance aspects of our constitution as many civilized countries do. This where media had a chance to set the agenda for this country but they have yet again wasted the opportunity. It is not too late for them to bring hope. The Vision 2030 can be achieved if we all agree that it will bring the desired change.
I am glad we deviated a little but this discussion will shape our future policies. Where we all respect one another.
Regards
Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
You have captured very well the problem with us Kenyans. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that we have very many people who are positive and are doing very good things for this country. But they are drowned by the bad elements amongst us. However, things will not change if we do not make a deliberate change intervention. According to me, it will be almost impossible to achieve V2030 with this attitude. We must change.I strongly believe that there is a 4th pillar that V2030 conceptualization missed - NATIONAL COHESION. It is what is required to move forward and fulfil the other plans. We could therefore argue that we need to sell Kenya to Kenyans before we go out to foreigners. Otherwise all the positive messages that will be put out there in selling Kenya to investors by whoever (assuming we can get this right in the first instance) will soon be negated by the bad attitudes that you speak of. And who said Kenya must be developed by outsiders?
I hope I have not sounded like a barking dog.
tim mwololo
On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 12:16 AM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Catherine, some barking dogs are causing untold pain to our people. Hate against Kenyans in Tanzania is at its worst. Irrespective who you are, you are refered to as Mungiki who is after grabbing Tanzanian land. Whom do you think created this image for our people?
Mungiki is more of any economic crisis in our country but our Media has refused to link the two. We lack analytical depth in our media houses. What you read is petty fitina. When a media house purpots that "Cable lands into financial trouble" do you think such media has the interests of this country at heart? If they did they should have asked the right questions before publishing. I do not think they have a clue how such any article impacts the country negatively.
The audience of what is published locally is not only Kenyan people who read it. We must love our country and stop hoping that someone else will change our image. The sad part is that all of what has been read throughout the world are all lies. Some people reading this may never know that it was not true.
This what I meant to say that negativity will fail us and we should check every barking dog.
Ndemo
Sent from my BlackBerryR
-----Original Message----- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:36:34 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
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-- If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas. George Bernard Shaw
I wonder, does the media report for outsiders or kenyans who need the info to make decisions in their daily lives? We live right here and the media has a duty to report reality not make-believe propaganda for foreign investors. Government shud fix the corruption, insecurity, infrastructure etc to create an environment for investment not plead with the media to abdicate its obligation to report accurately. If it did that it would be an accomplice in deception. No need burying our heads in the sand for short term gain. I have been to many countries and nothing tells me the kenyan media is crazy, save for common professional shortcomings. If govt functioned half as much as the media in the pursuit of greater kenya, we wud be far! Last nite hundreds of pepole, me included, were stranded at moi airport in msa because there were no lights on the runway so no planes could land or take off. I dont know how many pple missed their connecting international flights but that does more damage to investor confidence than crime reports. I read those everywhere i go but not about airports that have no lights. And that takes just a generator. Or is that among the unspecified services that the mysterious 1.5b in the budget will cater for? Long shot. Bottomline- the media cant just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There is the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported. Besides, it will be the same media that will be whipped for keeping quiet when things were going wrong. Remember the election fiasco? Yes, better blame the media now rather than later for not warning of the danger lurking in our midst. Dont beseech the media to join in the collective national amnesia and deception of the world. Ask the govt to deal with the issues. David Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -----Original Message----- From: bitange@jambo.co.ke Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:37:06 To: <dmakali@yahoo.com> Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches Listers, Please take a moment and see what is on-line from our papers today and understand what I am trying to say. You cannot convince even our people in the diaspora to invest in Kenya. Compare that with what SA has on the web from their papers. They have managed their violence especially on foreingners well even as it continues. We are showing machetes to investors without critical analysis and how we see the future of our country. The few potential investors I met this morning are distgusted with what they see. Allow me to request my brother Linus who is on this list to remove the picture please. Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
I stopped watching news in the local media a while back. Too much negative stuff affecting the peace and tranquility I expect in my home.
There is a lot of crime in S.A. yet the country is geared to host the World Cup come next year. How are they working to make it a success?
I support you fully. It is high time we Kenyans started to think nationally as a nation. To look at the positives. We live in a real world and things will not always be perfect in any country, Kenya included. Therefore we should promote the positive aspects of Kenya first before we can expect outsiders to support us.
Sammy Buruchara CEO NairobiNet Ltd
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+sammy=opensystems.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of bitange@jambo.co.ke Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:11 PM To: sammy@opensystems.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches
Prof. We should understand the impact of internet better. Our papers are on-line and they contribute the greatest content out there. A potential investor trying to surf the net, gets mostly negative information. I am not against our media but they could do better in setting the agenda. A few examples may help here.
It is not only Kenya that has suffered the youth bulge. This is something that has affected countries world over. The US suffered in the 1930's leading the country to get rid of the problem by investing heavily on public works and the war. In China they put much of their people into labour intensive public works (roads, energy, ICTs ets). While they did this they also suffered a high rate of crime. This is how the Al Capones came up. Italy has had a mafia crisis over a long period of time but the media there did not only focus on crime. They suggested economic solutions that have helped reduce crime in the south go down. When we write about mungiki, we should also suggest a way forward. We must also create hope for our people because we are all responsible for what happens in our land.
The recent US elections were all about hope that things will change. Look at the Uhuru Budget. It was a budget of hope. But read our yesterday papers. While one Media house attempted to create hope. The other focused on hopelessness - "the devil is in the details" - yet for once we were united in hope for our future. I had expected many positive headlines out of the budget but I was disappointed. This is a budget we should have leveraged to create a new Kenya. A Kenya where we all have hope. It gave us our much a waited new constitution. That we can devolve our resources based on the districts. That we may not need to dismantle a constitution that has relatively served us well for more than 40 years. That we may need only Parliament to amend only the governance aspects of our constitution as many civilized countries do. This where media had a chance to set the agenda for this country but they have yet again wasted the opportunity. It is not too late for them to bring hope. The Vision 2030 can be achieved if we all agree that it will bring the desired change.
I am glad we deviated a little but this discussion will shape our future policies. Where we all respect one another.
Regards
Ndemo.
Dr. Ndemo,
You have captured very well the problem with us Kenyans. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that we have very many people who are positive and are doing very good things for this country. But they are drowned by the bad elements amongst us. However, things will not change if we do not make a deliberate change intervention. According to me, it will be almost impossible to achieve V2030 with this attitude. We must change.I strongly believe that there is a 4th pillar that V2030 conceptualization missed - NATIONAL COHESION. It is what is required to move forward and fulfil the other plans. We could therefore argue that we need to sell Kenya to Kenyans before we go out to foreigners. Otherwise all the positive messages that will be put out there in selling Kenya to investors by whoever (assuming we can get this right in the first instance) will soon be negated by the bad attitudes that you speak of. And who said Kenya must be developed by outsiders?
I hope I have not sounded like a barking dog.
tim mwololo
On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 12:16 AM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Catherine, some barking dogs are causing untold pain to our people. Hate against Kenyans in Tanzania is at its worst. Irrespective who you are, you are refered to as Mungiki who is after grabbing Tanzanian land. Whom do you think created this image for our people?
Mungiki is more of any economic crisis in our country but our Media has refused to link the two. We lack analytical depth in our media houses. What you read is petty fitina. When a media house purpots that "Cable lands into financial trouble" do you think such media has the interests of this country at heart? If they did they should have asked the right questions before publishing. I do not think they have a clue how such any article impacts the country negatively.
The audience of what is published locally is not only Kenyan people who read it. We must love our country and stop hoping that someone else will change our image. The sad part is that all of what has been read throughout the world are all lies. Some people reading this may never know that it was not true.
This what I meant to say that negativity will fail us and we should check every barking dog.
Ndemo
Sent from my BlackBerryR
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Dear Hon. Dr. Ndemo, I have reviewed your concerns. Unfortunately the media is based on sensational stories. They can only publish stories and not achievements. In recent PR discussion in one of the clubs I am a part of the key issue, that did come regarding organisations that want to be recognised but are failing to achieve that is due to the quality of the human stories that are given to the media. If you ever pick up a magazine on India related to BPO, its not the fact that the Government has done XYZ that is in the foreground. Instead a lot of effort is placed on the human story from slums to riches. If these stories could be compiled, and the human story shown from a Kenyan BPO perspective it would in my opinion create the thrust needed to create the positive image we need for the media. I also believe donors would be more interest in how BPO has helped the human factor (not in numbers but individual stories); they would in turn fund and promote any similar ventures. On the discussion of negative ethinicity I believe that is a weakness that Kenya has. In business it is very difficult to reform weaknesses in time to make that needed profit. So what I am saying is that YES, our problems need to be sorted, but its progressive and will take time. One of the fundamental ways of eliminating tribalism for instance is by giving better lifestyles to citizens of the Country as a whole. This will prevent "my x tribe brother helped me when in need...what has the Country done for me" factor. We need to become a welfare state, however long it takes. But this is a progressive process. BPO is part of the solution. Germany managed to unite with Europe even though they had a bad history..... We may need to emphasise our diversity, market the way the South African's do it. Use a motto realising that we are different clans, tribes, races and yet of one body called Kenya. I do remember a beetles song (think it was them) that asked the question; "Is the boulder on top of the mountain superior than the rocks that make up the mountain's foundation?" If we show unity in diversity we have won half the battle without struggling much. Secondly the same diversity extrapolated across the borders (East Africa Television Style) will create harmony amongst our sister nations. This is my 2cnts worth. Thank you Best regards Athar
Dakatari, thanks for the elaboration....I hear you! I hope the media is also reading this. Nyaki ________________________________ From: "bitange@jambo.co.ke" <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>; kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:16:12 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths andWeaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches Catherine, some barking dogs are causing untold pain to our people. Hate against Kenyans in Tanzania is at its worst. Irrespective who you are, you are refered to as Mungiki who is after grabbing Tanzanian land. Whom do you think created this image for our people? Mungiki is more of any economic crisis in our country but our Media has refused to link the two. We lack analytical depth in our media houses. What you read is petty fitina. When a media house purpots that "Cable lands into financial trouble" do you think such media has the interests of this country at heart? If they did they should have asked the right questions before publishing. I do not think they have a clue how such any article impacts the country negatively. The audience of what is published locally is not only Kenyan people who read it. We must love our country and stop hoping that someone else will change our image. The sad part is that all of what has been read throughout the world are all lies. Some people reading this may never know that it was not true. This what I meant to say that negativity will fail us and we should check every barking dog. Ndemo Sent from my BlackBerry® -----Original Message----- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com> Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:36:34 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 10/11 of 12- BPO Discussions, Strengths and Weaknesses (Observations from USA and UK); and Trends and Niches _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: bitange@jambo.co.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke
-- Day 12 of 12- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up -- After extremely interesting discussions yesterday, where I summarized once or twice during the day, we would like to bring the BPO discussion to a close. It was very interesting to see that many of you were concerned that the media is portraying Kenya negatively and this could (or maybe was) affecting some of the decisions of potential investors. Some in the media fraternity responded that they really must report what is there and that their priority is Kenyans not foreigners first. As one said “…bottomline- the media can’t just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There are the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported”. Thank you to all of you who have actively participated both online and offline (directly to the moderators sometimes) during the last 12 days. To recap, we have covered the following themes: 1. The policy, legal and institutional frameworks for BPO sector 2. Subsidies accorded to BPO sector 3. Human Capacity Issues 4. Youth and Gender Issues 5. Strengths, Challenges and niches for Kenya as a BPO destination As we wrap up today I believe we could have done more justice to the institutional framework issue. More specifically I draw from the conclusion of the institutional framework summary and the question: In conclusion for Kenya, it can be observed that there is an overlap between KenInvest and the Kenya ICT Board when it comes to promotion of Kenya as an investment destination to potential investors. There could be other overlaps as well. For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems. In addition, there is need to coordinate between ICT Board, KenInvest, EPC and MoEST. The big question is: Who will perform the coordination? Finally, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Directorate in the Ministry of Planning has never been devolved into the ministries and public enterprises. Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak. At the same time, the institutional framework for Vision 2030 is in the formationstages and, even if it were to develop strong M&E capabilities, it may not be able to marshal enough power to ensure corrective action is taken by the concerned institutions in a timely manner. This draws me to the discussion question: What needs to be done to improve/strengthen the institutional framework in order for the BPO and outsourcing sector to play its planned role in the Kenyan economy? Let us discuss this today and any other gnawing issues in all the thematic areas as we wrap up. Best, Nyaki
Morning Nyaki, You say "*For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems.*" We were 'lucky' to have been involved, as advisers to GoK (one of the crucial mandates of National Council of Science and Technology) in the formative task forces set to see to it that we do not miss out on the ICT & Science and Technology Parks development. At the technocrat level we reached the stage where the need to merge efforts (additionally Ministry of Industrialization has Industrial Parks; Ministry of Trade has Incubation Parks etc.) was clearly communicated to decision makers. The coming up of the Special Economic Zones later should have assuaged the fears expressed in your quote above, however many commentators e.g. "On the ICT side, however, there seems to be some laxity. Not much has been heard about the Business Process Outsourcing Park which the minister earmarked Sh900 million for its construction." see http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/608168/-/item/1/-/3te68rz/-/inde... ....appear to side with you and hence on that matter lets rest the case as the month of June draws to a close. However, shs. 400 million of the above money was used to buy (pay for deposit) land in Arthi River area, and sadly the shs. 500 million may be returned confirming the title of the above story i.e. Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget You say "*Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak.*" We may have to look at 'independent entities' for a way forward on this one. Drawing from the debacle during the supplementary budget when the 'typo cum computer error' was detected by MARS group and later brought to the attention of the rest of the parliamentarians by one MP, it may pay to look outward for effective M&E. This is why it makes sense to strengthen, say the Kenya BPOCC Society (as concerns BPO issues) which is composed of individuals and entities that represent private, public and academia. That brings me to your question for the day, and here are some suggestions. 1. We need to walk the talk. Imagine if the shs 500 million bound to be returned to Treasury for lack of "absorptive capacity" had the Ministry of I&C, CCK and KICTB calling for a stakeholders forum (composed mainly of BPO operators and academia plus even the Kenya BPOCC Society) to give them a way out (how to spend it) and hence not have a situation of "Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget" ? 2. Coordination between decision makers who do not trust one another is an unrealistic expectation. What may work is akin to what made the Two Principals accept (shingo upande) to form a GCG. The desire certainly did not come from their mutual liking but pressure from .... yes you and me as citizens of our beloved Kenya and some nudge from the International parties with vested interests. 3. Taking the S. African route may pay faster that hoping for the Indian case as concerns clients for BPO work. S. Africa built a strong local outsourcing before venturing out to obtain international work. Here again GoK needs to be made to walk the talk....imagine if the Judiciary let transcription work be done by young (wo)men who now are joining in their droves to illegal outfits (making non Kenyans think all our unemployed young ones are Mungiki adherents)? 4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education because of inability to pay the university fees what makes us (in GoK for example) shy off the Egyptian model (see http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7931 for Egyptian case of incentives like rental and training subsidies between 85% and 100%) so as to open doors to the young ones instead of lamenting that the Media is being negative when they make a headline story of how a Crisis is unfolding as we open and blink our eyes. Have to run off to MoHE,S&T workshop for validation of Science, Technology and Innovation Bill, University Bill and Technical, Industrial, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Bill. It was good while it lasted. Kind regards, David On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
-- Day 12 of 12- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up --
After extremely interesting discussions yesterday, where I summarized once or twice during the day, we would like to bring the BPO discussion to a close. It was very interesting to see that many of you were concerned that the media is portraying Kenya negatively and this could (or maybe was) affecting some of the decisions of potential investors. Some in the media fraternity responded that they really must report what is there and that their priority is Kenyans not foreigners first. As one said “…bottomline- the media can’t just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There are the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported”.
Thank you to all of you who have actively participated both online and offline (directly to the moderators sometimes) during the last 12 days. To recap, we have covered the following themes:
1. The policy, legal and institutional frameworks for BPO sector 2. Subsidies accorded to BPO sector 3. Human Capacity Issues 4. Youth and Gender Issues 5. Strengths, Challenges and niches for Kenya as a BPO destination
As we wrap up today I believe we could have done more justice to the institutional framework issue. More specifically I draw from the conclusion of the institutional framework summary and the question:
*In conclusion for Kenya, it can be observed that there is an overlap between KenInvest and the Kenya ICT Board when it comes to promotion of Kenya as an investment destination to potential investors. There could be other overlaps as well. For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems. In addition, there is need to coordinate between ICT Board, KenInvest, EPC and MoEST. The big question is: Who will perform the coordination? Finally, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Directorate in the Ministry of Planning has never been devolved into the ministries and public enterprises. Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak. At the same time, the institutional framework for Vision 2030 is in the formation* *stages and, even if it were to develop strong M&E capabilities, it may not be able to marshal enough power to ensure corrective action is taken by the concerned institutions in a timely manner. *
This draws me to the discussion question*: What needs to be done to improve/strengthen the institutional framework in order for the BPO and outsourcing sector to play its planned role in the Kenyan economy?*
Let us discuss this today and any other gnawing issues in all the thematic areas as we wrap up.
Best,
Nyaki
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4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education..... I mean only 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds who qualify, attend public universities while 97 are not able to access University education because they cannot afford to pay!!!!!!! On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 9:10 AM, David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com> wrote:
Morning Nyaki,
You say "*For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems.*"
We were 'lucky' to have been involved, as advisers to GoK (one of the crucial mandates of National Council of Science and Technology) in the formative task forces set to see to it that we do not miss out on the ICT & Science and Technology Parks development. At the technocrat level we reached the stage where the need to merge efforts (additionally Ministry of Industrialization has Industrial Parks; Ministry of Trade has Incubation Parks etc.) was clearly communicated to decision makers. The coming up of the Special Economic Zones later should have assuaged the fears expressed in your quote above, however many commentators e.g. "On the ICT side, however, there seems to be some laxity. Not much has been heard about the Business Process Outsourcing Park which the minister earmarked Sh900 million for its construction." see http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/608168/-/item/1/-/3te68rz/-/inde... ....appear to side with you and hence on that matter lets rest the case as the month of June draws to a close. However, shs. 400 million of the above money was used to buy (pay for deposit) land in Arthi River area, and sadly the shs. 500 million may be returned confirming the title of the above story i.e. Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget
You say "*Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak.*"
We may have to look at 'independent entities' for a way forward on this one. Drawing from the debacle during the supplementary budget when the 'typo cum computer error' was detected by MARS group and later brought to the attention of the rest of the parliamentarians by one MP, it may pay to look outward for effective M&E. This is why it makes sense to strengthen, say the Kenya BPOCC Society (as concerns BPO issues) which is composed of individuals and entities that represent private, public and academia.
That brings me to your question for the day, and here are some suggestions.
1. We need to walk the talk. Imagine if the shs 500 million bound to be returned to Treasury for lack of "absorptive capacity" had the Ministry of I&C, CCK and KICTB calling for a stakeholders forum (composed mainly of BPO operators and academia plus even the Kenya BPOCC Society) to give them a way out (how to spend it) and hence not have a situation of "Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget" ?
2. Coordination between decision makers who do not trust one another is an unrealistic expectation. What may work is akin to what made the Two Principals accept (shingo upande) to form a GCG. The desire certainly did not come from their mutual liking but pressure from .... yes you and me as citizens of our beloved Kenya and some nudge from the International parties with vested interests.
3. Taking the S. African route may pay faster that hoping for the Indian case as concerns clients for BPO work. S. Africa built a strong local outsourcing before venturing out to obtain international work. Here again GoK needs to be made to walk the talk....imagine if the Judiciary let transcription work be done by young (wo)men who now are joining in their droves to illegal outfits (making non Kenyans think all our unemployed young ones are Mungiki adherents)?
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education because of inability to pay the university fees what makes us (in GoK for example) shy off the Egyptian model (see http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7931 for Egyptian case of incentives like rental and training subsidies between 85% and 100%) so as to open doors to the young ones instead of lamenting that the Media is being negative when they make a headline story of how a Crisis is unfolding as we open and blink our eyes.
Have to run off to MoHE,S&T workshop for validation of Science, Technology and Innovation Bill, University Bill and Technical, Industrial, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Bill.
It was good while it lasted.
Kind regards,
David
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
-- Day 12 of 12- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up --
After extremely interesting discussions yesterday, where I summarized once or twice during the day, we would like to bring the BPO discussion to a close. It was very interesting to see that many of you were concerned that the media is portraying Kenya negatively and this could (or maybe was) affecting some of the decisions of potential investors. Some in the media fraternity responded that they really must report what is there and that their priority is Kenyans not foreigners first. As one said “…bottomline- the media can’t just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There are the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported”.
Thank you to all of you who have actively participated both online and offline (directly to the moderators sometimes) during the last 12 days. To recap, we have covered the following themes:
1. The policy, legal and institutional frameworks for BPO sector 2. Subsidies accorded to BPO sector 3. Human Capacity Issues 4. Youth and Gender Issues 5. Strengths, Challenges and niches for Kenya as a BPO destination
As we wrap up today I believe we could have done more justice to the institutional framework issue. More specifically I draw from the conclusion of the institutional framework summary and the question:
*In conclusion for Kenya, it can be observed that there is an overlap between KenInvest and the Kenya ICT Board when it comes to promotion of Kenya as an investment destination to potential investors. There could be other overlaps as well. For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems. In addition, there is need to coordinate between ICT Board, KenInvest, EPC and MoEST. The big question is: Who will perform the coordination? Finally, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Directorate in the Ministry of Planning has never been devolved into the ministries and public enterprises. Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak. At the same time, the institutional framework for Vision 2030 is in the formation* *stages and, even if it were to develop strong M&E capabilities, it may not be able to marshal enough power to ensure corrective action is taken by the concerned institutions in a timely manner. *
This draws me to the discussion question*: What needs to be done to improve/strengthen the institutional framework in order for the BPO and outsourcing sector to play its planned role in the Kenyan economy?*
Let us discuss this today and any other gnawing issues in all the thematic areas as we wrap up.
Best,
Nyaki
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David, I feel pained to hear that sh.500,000,000/= is being returned to Treasury having not been utilised. Can someone in the picture confirm to me that this is not correct? The BPO sector is in dire need of funds for so many other activities. If the BPO park (purchase of land)did not need that amount,why was it allocated all that amount? Is this not why the ICT Board says it did not get sufficient funds for other activities since sh.900million all went to the park? And now someone is telling us it was not fully utilised? Someone please provide the correct information or explain what really happened. (I am hoping this is not true). And how can we ensure that this does not happen again in 2009-2010? We gave our input in the budget prior to allocation, as to whether our input is taken in is another day's discussion. Gilda Quoting David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com>:
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education.....
I mean only 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds who qualify, attend public universities while 97 are not able to access University education because they cannot afford to pay!!!!!!!
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 9:10 AM, David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com> wrote:
Morning Nyaki,
You say "*For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems.*"
We were 'lucky' to have been involved, as advisers to GoK (one of the crucial mandates of National Council of Science and Technology) in the formative task forces set to see to it that we do not miss out on the ICT & Science and Technology Parks development. At the technocrat level we reached the stage where the need to merge efforts (additionally Ministry of Industrialization has Industrial Parks; Ministry of Trade has Incubation Parks etc.) was clearly communicated to decision makers. The coming up of the Special Economic Zones later should have assuaged the fears expressed in your quote above, however many commentators e.g. "On the ICT side, however, there seems to be some laxity. Not much has been heard about the Business Process Outsourcing Park which the minister earmarked Sh900 million for its construction." see
....appear to side with you and hence on that matter lets rest the case as the month of June draws to a close. However, shs. 400 million of the above money was used to buy (pay for deposit) land in Arthi River area, and sadly the shs. 500 million may be returned confirming the title of the above story i.e. Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget
You say "*Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak.*"
We may have to look at 'independent entities' for a way forward on this one. Drawing from the debacle during the supplementary budget when the 'typo cum computer error' was detected by MARS group and later brought to the attention of the rest of the parliamentarians by one MP, it may pay to look outward for effective M&E. This is why it makes sense to strengthen, say
Kenya BPOCC Society (as concerns BPO issues) which is composed of individuals and entities that represent private, public and academia.
That brings me to your question for the day, and here are some suggestions.
1. We need to walk the talk. Imagine if the shs 500 million bound to be returned to Treasury for lack of "absorptive capacity" had the Ministry of I&C, CCK and KICTB calling for a stakeholders forum (composed mainly of BPO operators and academia plus even the Kenya BPOCC Society) to give them a way out (how to spend it) and hence not have a situation of "Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget" ?
2. Coordination between decision makers who do not trust one another is an unrealistic expectation. What may work is akin to what made the Two Principals accept (shingo upande) to form a GCG. The desire certainly did not come from their mutual liking but pressure from .... yes you and me as citizens of our beloved Kenya and some nudge from the International
with vested interests.
3. Taking the S. African route may pay faster that hoping for the Indian case as concerns clients for BPO work. S. Africa built a strong local outsourcing before venturing out to obtain international work. Here again GoK needs to be made to walk the talk....imagine if the Judiciary let transcription work be done by young (wo)men who now are joining in their droves to illegal outfits (making non Kenyans think all our unemployed young ones are Mungiki adherents)?
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education because of inability to pay the university fees what makes us (in GoK for example) shy off the Egyptian model (see http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7931 for Egyptian case of incentives like rental and training subsidies between 85% and 100%) so as to open doors to the young ones instead of lamenting that the Media is being negative when they make a headline story of how a Crisis is unfolding as we open and blink our eyes.
Have to run off to MoHE,S&T workshop for validation of Science, Technology and Innovation Bill, University Bill and Technical, Industrial, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Bill.
It was good while it lasted.
Kind regards,
David
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
-- Day 12 of 12- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up --
After extremely interesting discussions yesterday, where I summarized once or twice during the day, we would like to bring the BPO discussion to a close. It was very interesting to see that many of you were concerned
the media is portraying Kenya negatively and this could (or maybe was) affecting some of the decisions of potential investors. Some in the media fraternity responded that they really must report what is there and that their priority is Kenyans not foreigners first. As one said bottomline- the media cant just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There are the rest of us citizens whose welfare,
and worries too must be reported.
Thank you to all of you who have actively participated both online and offline (directly to the moderators sometimes) during the last 12 days. To recap, we have covered the following themes:
1. The policy, legal and institutional frameworks for BPO sector 2. Subsidies accorded to BPO sector 3. Human Capacity Issues 4. Youth and Gender Issues 5. Strengths, Challenges and niches for Kenya as a BPO destination
As we wrap up today I believe we could have done more justice to the institutional framework issue. More specifically I draw from the conclusion of the institutional framework summary and the question:
*In conclusion for Kenya, it can be observed that there is an overlap between KenInvest and the Kenya ICT Board when it comes to promotion of Kenya as an investment destination to potential investors. There could be other overlaps as well. For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems. In addition, there is need to coordinate between ICT Board, KenInvest, EPC and MoEST. The big question is: Who will perform the coordination? Finally, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Directorate in the Ministry of Planning has never been devolved into the ministries and public enterprises. Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak. At the same time, the institutional framework for Vision 2030 is in the formation* *stages and, even if it were to develop strong M&E capabilities, it may not be able to marshal enough power to ensure corrective action is taken by the concerned institutions in a timely manner. *
This draws me to the discussion question*: What needs to be done to improve/strengthen the institutional framework in order for the BPO and outsourcing sector to play its planned role in the Kenyan economy?*
Let us discuss this today and any other gnawing issues in all the
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/608168/-/item/1/-/3te68rz/-/inde... the parties that life thematic
areas as we wrap up.
Best,
Nyaki
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Gilda, This is completely preposterous propaganda. Just last month in the revised budget MOF cut most ministries' budgets because most resources went to drought mitigation. This was reported in the media extensively. Our ministry's budget was cut by 500 million. We were to pay 400 million as deposit for land and the balance payable in this financial year. We have had several ICT Park steering commitee meetings. I am now in Washington to negotiate with IFC on advancing the BPO and Science Park project. I do not know how someone makes such allegations in such a forum without checking the facts. It is embarassing to say the least because even with minimum logic one would wonder why we should return the money when we have not paid for the land. Ndemo. Sent from my BlackBerry® -----Original Message----- From: godera@skyweb.co.ke Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:35:15 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 12 of 12 -- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up David, I feel pained to hear that sh.500,000,000/= is being returned to Treasury having not been utilised. Can someone in the picture confirm to me that this is not correct? The BPO sector is in dire need of funds for so many other activities. If the BPO park (purchase of land)did not need that amount,why was it allocated all that amount? Is this not why the ICT Board says it did not get sufficient funds for other activities since sh.900million all went to the park? And now someone is telling us it was not fully utilised? Someone please provide the correct information or explain what really happened. (I am hoping this is not true). And how can we ensure that this does not happen again in 2009-2010? We gave our input in the budget prior to allocation, as to whether our input is taken in is another day's discussion. Gilda Quoting David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com>:
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education.....
I mean only 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds who qualify, attend public universities while 97 are not able to access University education because they cannot afford to pay!!!!!!!
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 9:10 AM, David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com> wrote:
Morning Nyaki,
You say "*For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems.*"
We were 'lucky' to have been involved, as advisers to GoK (one of the crucial mandates of National Council of Science and Technology) in the formative task forces set to see to it that we do not miss out on the ICT & Science and Technology Parks development. At the technocrat level we reached the stage where the need to merge efforts (additionally Ministry of Industrialization has Industrial Parks; Ministry of Trade has Incubation Parks etc.) was clearly communicated to decision makers. The coming up of the Special Economic Zones later should have assuaged the fears expressed in your quote above, however many commentators e.g. "On the ICT side, however, there seems to be some laxity. Not much has been heard about the Business Process Outsourcing Park which the minister earmarked Sh900 million for its construction." see
....appear to side with you and hence on that matter lets rest the case as the month of June draws to a close. However, shs. 400 million of the above money was used to buy (pay for deposit) land in Arthi River area, and sadly the shs. 500 million may be returned confirming the title of the above story i.e. Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget
You say "*Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak.*"
We may have to look at 'independent entities' for a way forward on this one. Drawing from the debacle during the supplementary budget when the 'typo cum computer error' was detected by MARS group and later brought to the attention of the rest of the parliamentarians by one MP, it may pay to look outward for effective M&E. This is why it makes sense to strengthen, say
Kenya BPOCC Society (as concerns BPO issues) which is composed of individuals and entities that represent private, public and academia.
That brings me to your question for the day, and here are some suggestions.
1. We need to walk the talk. Imagine if the shs 500 million bound to be returned to Treasury for lack of "absorptive capacity" had the Ministry of I&C, CCK and KICTB calling for a stakeholders forum (composed mainly of BPO operators and academia plus even the Kenya BPOCC Society) to give them a way out (how to spend it) and hence not have a situation of "Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget" ?
2. Coordination between decision makers who do not trust one another is an unrealistic expectation. What may work is akin to what made the Two Principals accept (shingo upande) to form a GCG. The desire certainly did not come from their mutual liking but pressure from .... yes you and me as citizens of our beloved Kenya and some nudge from the International
with vested interests.
3. Taking the S. African route may pay faster that hoping for the Indian case as concerns clients for BPO work. S. Africa built a strong local outsourcing before venturing out to obtain international work. Here again GoK needs to be made to walk the talk....imagine if the Judiciary let transcription work be done by young (wo)men who now are joining in their droves to illegal outfits (making non Kenyans think all our unemployed young ones are Mungiki adherents)?
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education because of inability to pay the university fees what makes us (in GoK for example) shy off the Egyptian model (see http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7931 for Egyptian case of incentives like rental and training subsidies between 85% and 100%) so as to open doors to the young ones instead of lamenting that the Media is being negative when they make a headline story of how a Crisis is unfolding as we open and blink our eyes.
Have to run off to MoHE,S&T workshop for validation of Science, Technology and Innovation Bill, University Bill and Technical, Industrial, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Bill.
It was good while it lasted.
Kind regards,
David
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
-- Day 12 of 12- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up --
After extremely interesting discussions yesterday, where I summarized once or twice during the day, we would like to bring the BPO discussion to a close. It was very interesting to see that many of you were concerned
the media is portraying Kenya negatively and this could (or maybe was) affecting some of the decisions of potential investors. Some in the media fraternity responded that they really must report what is there and that their priority is Kenyans not foreigners first. As one said “…bottomline- the media can’t just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There are the rest of us citizens whose welfare,
and worries too must be reported”.
Thank you to all of you who have actively participated both online and offline (directly to the moderators sometimes) during the last 12 days. To recap, we have covered the following themes:
1. The policy, legal and institutional frameworks for BPO sector 2. Subsidies accorded to BPO sector 3. Human Capacity Issues 4. Youth and Gender Issues 5. Strengths, Challenges and niches for Kenya as a BPO destination
As we wrap up today I believe we could have done more justice to the institutional framework issue. More specifically I draw from the conclusion of the institutional framework summary and the question:
*In conclusion for Kenya, it can be observed that there is an overlap between KenInvest and the Kenya ICT Board when it comes to promotion of Kenya as an investment destination to potential investors. There could be other overlaps as well. For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems. In addition, there is need to coordinate between ICT Board, KenInvest, EPC and MoEST. The big question is: Who will perform the coordination? Finally, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Directorate in the Ministry of Planning has never been devolved into the ministries and public enterprises. Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak. At the same time, the institutional framework for Vision 2030 is in the formation* *stages and, even if it were to develop strong M&E capabilities, it may not be able to marshal enough power to ensure corrective action is taken by the concerned institutions in a timely manner. *
This draws me to the discussion question*: What needs to be done to improve/strengthen the institutional framework in order for the BPO and outsourcing sector to play its planned role in the Kenyan economy?*
Let us discuss this today and any other gnawing issues in all the
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/608168/-/item/1/-/3te68rz/-/inde... the parties that life thematic
areas as we wrap up.
Best,
Nyaki
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
This message was sent to: otwomad@gmail.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/otwomad%40gmail.com
------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: bitange@jambo.co.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world"
Dr.Ndemo, Thank you so much for this clarification. I was truly hoping to get such a response as the allegations were too serious, considering how there has been such clamour in this industry for higher budget allocations. Thanks for taking time to address this propaganda. It is a pity though that one can come up with such allegations. Gilda Quoting bitange@jambo.co.ke:
Gilda, This is completely preposterous propaganda. Just last month in the revised budget MOF cut most ministries' budgets because most resources went to drought mitigation. This was reported in the media extensively. Our ministry's budget was cut by 500 million. We were to pay 400 million as deposit for land and the balance payable in this financial year.
We have had several ICT Park steering commitee meetings. I am now in Washington to negotiate with IFC on advancing the BPO and Science Park project. I do not know how someone makes such allegations in such a forum without checking the facts. It is embarassing to say the least because even with minimum logic one would wonder why we should return the money when we have not paid for the land.
Ndemo.
Sent from my BlackBerry®
-----Original Message----- From: godera@skyweb.co.ke
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:35:15 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 12 of 12 -- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up
David,
I feel pained to hear that sh.500,000,000/= is being returned to Treasury having not been utilised. Can someone in the picture confirm to me that this is not correct? The BPO sector is in dire need of funds for so many other activities. If the BPO park (purchase of land)did not need that amount,why was it allocated all that amount? Is this not why the ICT Board says it did not get sufficient funds for other activities since sh.900million all went to the park? And now someone is telling us it was not fully utilised? Someone please provide the correct information or explain what really happened. (I am hoping this is not true). And how can we ensure that this does not happen again in 2009-2010? We gave our input in the budget prior to allocation, as to whether our input is taken in is another day's discussion.
Gilda Quoting David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com>:
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education.....
I mean only 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds who qualify, attend public universities while 97 are not able to access University education because they cannot afford to pay!!!!!!!
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 9:10 AM, David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com> wrote:
Morning Nyaki,
You say "*For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems.*"
We were 'lucky' to have been involved, as advisers to GoK (one of the crucial mandates of National Council of Science and Technology) in the formative task forces set to see to it that we do not miss out on the ICT & Science and Technology Parks development. At the technocrat level we reached the stage where the need to merge efforts (additionally Ministry of Industrialization has Industrial Parks; Ministry of Trade has Incubation Parks etc.) was clearly communicated to decision makers. The coming up of the Special Economic Zones later should have assuaged the fears expressed in your quote above, however many commentators e.g. "On the ICT side, however, there seems to be some laxity. Not much has been heard about the Business Process Outsourcing Park which the minister earmarked Sh900 million for its construction." see
....appear to side with you and hence on that matter lets rest the case as the month of June draws to a close. However, shs. 400 million of the above money was used to buy (pay for deposit) land in Arthi River area, and sadly the shs. 500 million may be returned confirming the title of the above story i.e. Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget
You say "*Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak.*"
We may have to look at 'independent entities' for a way forward on this one. Drawing from the debacle during the supplementary budget when the 'typo cum computer error' was detected by MARS group and later brought to the attention of the rest of the parliamentarians by one MP, it may pay to look outward for effective M&E. This is why it makes sense to strengthen, say the Kenya BPOCC Society (as concerns BPO issues) which is composed of individuals and entities that represent private, public and academia.
That brings me to your question for the day, and here are some suggestions.
1. We need to walk the talk. Imagine if the shs 500 million bound to be returned to Treasury for lack of "absorptive capacity" had the Ministry of I&C, CCK and KICTB calling for a stakeholders forum (composed mainly of BPO operators and academia plus even the Kenya BPOCC Society) to give them a way out (how to spend it) and hence not have a situation of "Broken
wrong plans in last budget" ?
2. Coordination between decision makers who do not trust one another is an unrealistic expectation. What may work is akin to what made the Two Principals accept (shingo upande) to form a GCG. The desire certainly did not come from their mutual liking but pressure from .... yes you and me as citizens of our beloved Kenya and some nudge from the International parties with vested interests.
3. Taking the S. African route may pay faster that hoping for the Indian case as concerns clients for BPO work. S. Africa built a strong local outsourcing before venturing out to obtain international work. Here again GoK needs to be made to walk the talk....imagine if the Judiciary let transcription work be done by young (wo)men who now are joining in their droves to illegal outfits (making non Kenyans think all our unemployed young ones are Mungiki adherents)?
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education because of inability to pay the university fees what makes us (in GoK for example) shy off the Egyptian model (see http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7931 for Egyptian case of incentives like rental and training subsidies between 85% and 100%) so as to open doors to the young ones instead of lamenting that the Media is being negative when they make a headline story of how a Crisis is unfolding as we open and blink our eyes.
Have to run off to MoHE,S&T workshop for validation of Science, Technology and Innovation Bill, University Bill and Technical, Industrial, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Bill.
It was good while it lasted.
Kind regards,
David
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
-- Day 12 of 12- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up --
After extremely interesting discussions yesterday, where I summarized once or twice during the day, we would like to bring the BPO discussion to a close. It was very interesting to see that many of you were concerned that the media is portraying Kenya negatively and this could (or maybe was) affecting some of the decisions of potential investors. Some in the media fraternity responded that they really must report what is there and
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/608168/-/item/1/-/3te68rz/-/inde... promises, that
their priority is Kenyans not foreigners first. As one said bottomline- the media cant just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There are the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported.
Thank you to all of you who have actively participated both online and offline (directly to the moderators sometimes) during the last 12 days. To recap, we have covered the following themes:
1. The policy, legal and institutional frameworks for BPO sector 2. Subsidies accorded to BPO sector 3. Human Capacity Issues 4. Youth and Gender Issues 5. Strengths, Challenges and niches for Kenya as a BPO destination
As we wrap up today I believe we could have done more justice to the institutional framework issue. More specifically I draw from the conclusion of the institutional framework summary and the question:
*In conclusion for Kenya, it can be observed that there is an overlap between KenInvest and the Kenya ICT Board when it comes to promotion of Kenya as an investment destination to potential investors. There could be other overlaps as well. For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems. In addition, there is need to coordinate between ICT Board, KenInvest, EPC and MoEST. The big question is: Who will perform the coordination? Finally, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Directorate in the Ministry of Planning has never been devolved into the ministries and public enterprises. Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak. At the same time, the institutional framework for Vision 2030 is in the formation* *stages and, even if it were to develop strong M&E capabilities, it may not be able to marshal enough power to ensure corrective action is taken by the concerned institutions in a timely manner. *
This draws me to the discussion question*: What needs to be done to improve/strengthen the institutional framework in order for the BPO and outsourcing sector to play its planned role in the Kenyan economy?*
Let us discuss this today and any other gnawing issues in all the thematic areas as we wrap up.
Best,
Nyaki
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
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http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/otwomad%40gmail.com
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maybe the industry (Ministry?) should consider creative ways of updating everyone. ICT Industry blog or other creative news bytes channels. Lack of information sometimes breeds such... Edith ________________________________________ From: kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of godera@skyweb.co.ke [godera@skyweb.co.ke] Sent: 17 June 2009 15:40 To: Edith Adera Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions; kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 12 of 12 -- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up Dr.Ndemo, Thank you so much for this clarification. I was truly hoping to get such a response as the allegations were too serious, considering how there has been such clamour in this industry for higher budget allocations. Thanks for taking time to address this propaganda. It is a pity though that one can come up with such allegations. Gilda Quoting bitange@jambo.co.ke:
Gilda, This is completely preposterous propaganda. Just last month in the revised budget MOF cut most ministries' budgets because most resources went to drought mitigation. This was reported in the media extensively. Our ministry's budget was cut by 500 million. We were to pay 400 million as deposit for land and the balance payable in this financial year.
We have had several ICT Park steering commitee meetings. I am now in Washington to negotiate with IFC on advancing the BPO and Science Park project. I do not know how someone makes such allegations in such a forum without checking the facts. It is embarassing to say the least because even with minimum logic one would wonder why we should return the money when we have not paid for the land.
Ndemo.
Sent from my BlackBerry®
-----Original Message----- From: godera@skyweb.co.ke
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:35:15 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 12 of 12 -- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up
David,
I feel pained to hear that sh.500,000,000/= is being returned to Treasury having not been utilised. Can someone in the picture confirm to me that this is not correct? The BPO sector is in dire need of funds for so many other activities. If the BPO park (purchase of land)did not need that amount,why was it allocated all that amount? Is this not why the ICT Board says it did not get sufficient funds for other activities since sh.900million all went to the park? And now someone is telling us it was not fully utilised? Someone please provide the correct information or explain what really happened. (I am hoping this is not true). And how can we ensure that this does not happen again in 2009-2010? We gave our input in the budget prior to allocation, as to whether our input is taken in is another day's discussion.
Gilda Quoting David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com>:
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education.....
I mean only 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds who qualify, attend public universities while 97 are not able to access University education because they cannot afford to pay!!!!!!!
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 9:10 AM, David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com> wrote:
Morning Nyaki,
You say "*For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems.*"
We were 'lucky' to have been involved, as advisers to GoK (one of the crucial mandates of National Council of Science and Technology) in the formative task forces set to see to it that we do not miss out on the ICT & Science and Technology Parks development. At the technocrat level we reached the stage where the need to merge efforts (additionally Ministry of Industrialization has Industrial Parks; Ministry of Trade has Incubation Parks etc.) was clearly communicated to decision makers. The coming up of the Special Economic Zones later should have assuaged the fears expressed in your quote above, however many commentators e.g. "On the ICT side, however, there seems to be some laxity. Not much has been heard about the Business Process Outsourcing Park which the minister earmarked Sh900 million for its construction." see
....appear to side with you and hence on that matter lets rest the case as the month of June draws to a close. However, shs. 400 million of the above money was used to buy (pay for deposit) land in Arthi River area, and sadly the shs. 500 million may be returned confirming the title of the above story i.e. Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget
You say "*Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak.*"
We may have to look at 'independent entities' for a way forward on this one. Drawing from the debacle during the supplementary budget when the 'typo cum computer error' was detected by MARS group and later brought to the attention of the rest of the parliamentarians by one MP, it may pay to look outward for effective M&E. This is why it makes sense to strengthen, say the Kenya BPOCC Society (as concerns BPO issues) which is composed of individuals and entities that represent private, public and academia.
That brings me to your question for the day, and here are some suggestions.
1. We need to walk the talk. Imagine if the shs 500 million bound to be returned to Treasury for lack of "absorptive capacity" had the Ministry of I&C, CCK and KICTB calling for a stakeholders forum (composed mainly of BPO operators and academia plus even the Kenya BPOCC Society) to give them a way out (how to spend it) and hence not have a situation of "Broken
wrong plans in last budget" ?
2. Coordination between decision makers who do not trust one another is an unrealistic expectation. What may work is akin to what made the Two Principals accept (shingo upande) to form a GCG. The desire certainly did not come from their mutual liking but pressure from .... yes you and me as citizens of our beloved Kenya and some nudge from the International parties with vested interests.
3. Taking the S. African route may pay faster that hoping for the Indian case as concerns clients for BPO work. S. Africa built a strong local outsourcing before venturing out to obtain international work. Here again GoK needs to be made to walk the talk....imagine if the Judiciary let transcription work be done by young (wo)men who now are joining in their droves to illegal outfits (making non Kenyans think all our unemployed young ones are Mungiki adherents)?
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education because of inability to pay the university fees what makes us (in GoK for example) shy off the Egyptian model (see http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7931 for Egyptian case of incentives like rental and training subsidies between 85% and 100%) so as to open doors to the young ones instead of lamenting that the Media is being negative when they make a headline story of how a Crisis is unfolding as we open and blink our eyes.
Have to run off to MoHE,S&T workshop for validation of Science, Technology and Innovation Bill, University Bill and Technical, Industrial, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Bill.
It was good while it lasted.
Kind regards,
David
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
-- Day 12 of 12- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up --
After extremely interesting discussions yesterday, where I summarized once or twice during the day, we would like to bring the BPO discussion to a close. It was very interesting to see that many of you were concerned that the media is portraying Kenya negatively and this could (or maybe was) affecting some of the decisions of potential investors. Some in the media fraternity responded that they really must report what is there and
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/608168/-/item/1/-/3te68rz/-/inde... promises, that
their priority is Kenyans not foreigners first. As one said “…bottomline- the media can’t just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There are the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported”.
Thank you to all of you who have actively participated both online and offline (directly to the moderators sometimes) during the last 12 days. To recap, we have covered the following themes:
1. The policy, legal and institutional frameworks for BPO sector 2. Subsidies accorded to BPO sector 3. Human Capacity Issues 4. Youth and Gender Issues 5. Strengths, Challenges and niches for Kenya as a BPO destination
As we wrap up today I believe we could have done more justice to the institutional framework issue. More specifically I draw from the conclusion of the institutional framework summary and the question:
*In conclusion for Kenya, it can be observed that there is an overlap between KenInvest and the Kenya ICT Board when it comes to promotion of Kenya as an investment destination to potential investors. There could be other overlaps as well. For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems. In addition, there is need to coordinate between ICT Board, KenInvest, EPC and MoEST. The big question is: Who will perform the coordination? Finally, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Directorate in the Ministry of Planning has never been devolved into the ministries and public enterprises. Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak. At the same time, the institutional framework for Vision 2030 is in the formation* *stages and, even if it were to develop strong M&E capabilities, it may not be able to marshal enough power to ensure corrective action is taken by the concerned institutions in a timely manner. *
This draws me to the discussion question*: What needs to be done to improve/strengthen the institutional framework in order for the BPO and outsourcing sector to play its planned role in the Kenyan economy?*
Let us discuss this today and any other gnawing issues in all the thematic areas as we wrap up.
Best,
Nyaki
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Gilda, There was a story in Nation titled 'Key projects in last year’s Budget yet to be initiated' See http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/607244/-/ujrwjc/-/index.html For instance, Mr Kimunya had proposed the building of a Sh900 million Business Process Outsourcing Park by the Information ministry to create 10,000 jobs annually. The project has not taken off. Permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo said the government took back Sh500 million, thus stalling the project. Budget reallocation is a normal exercise at the Treasury, to ensure key programmes are given priority. Money for some projects is said to have been diverted to the famine which hit sections of the country. The Information ministry used the balance to pay deposit for 5,000 hectares of land at Nairobi’s Kitengela for the project. Dr Ndemo now expects the Treasury to allocate more cash for the programme. On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 2:35 PM, <godera@skyweb.co.ke> wrote:
David,
I feel pained to hear that sh.500,000,000/= is being returned to Treasury having not been utilised. Can someone in the picture confirm to me that this is not correct? The BPO sector is in dire need of funds for so many other activities. If the BPO park (purchase of land)did not need that amount,why was it allocated all that amount? Is this not why the ICT Board says it did not get sufficient funds for other activities since sh.900million all went to the park? And now someone is telling us it was not fully utilised? Someone please provide the correct information or explain what really happened. (I am hoping this is not true). And how can we ensure that this does not happen again in 2009-2010? We gave our input in the budget prior to allocation, as to whether our input is taken in is another day's discussion.
Gilda Quoting David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com>:
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education.....
I mean only 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds who qualify, attend public universities while 97 are not able to access University education because they cannot afford to pay!!!!!!!
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 9:10 AM, David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com> wrote:
Morning Nyaki,
You say "*For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems.*"
We were 'lucky' to have been involved, as advisers to GoK (one of the crucial mandates of National Council of Science and Technology) in the formative task forces set to see to it that we do not miss out on the ICT & Science and Technology Parks development. At the technocrat level we reached the stage where the need to merge efforts (additionally Ministry of Industrialization has Industrial Parks; Ministry of Trade has Incubation Parks etc.) was clearly communicated to decision makers. The coming up of the Special Economic Zones later should have assuaged the fears expressed in your quote above, however many commentators e.g. "On the ICT side, however, there seems to be some laxity. Not much has been heard about the Business Process Outsourcing Park which the minister earmarked Sh900 million for its construction." see
....appear to side with you and hence on that matter lets rest the case as the month of June draws to a close. However, shs. 400 million of the above money was used to buy (pay for deposit) land in Arthi River area, and sadly the shs. 500 million may be returned confirming the title of the above story i.e. Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget
You say "*Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak.*"
We may have to look at 'independent entities' for a way forward on this one. Drawing from the debacle during the supplementary budget when the 'typo cum computer error' was detected by MARS group and later brought to the attention of the rest of the parliamentarians by one MP, it may pay to look outward for effective M&E. This is why it makes sense to strengthen, say the Kenya BPOCC Society (as concerns BPO issues) which is composed of individuals and entities that represent private, public and academia.
That brings me to your question for the day, and here are some suggestions.
1. We need to walk the talk. Imagine if the shs 500 million bound to be returned to Treasury for lack of "absorptive capacity" had the Ministry of I&C, CCK and KICTB calling for a stakeholders forum (composed mainly of BPO operators and academia plus even the Kenya BPOCC Society) to give them a way out (how to spend it) and hence not have a situation of "Broken
wrong plans in last budget" ?
2. Coordination between decision makers who do not trust one another is an unrealistic expectation. What may work is akin to what made the Two Principals accept (shingo upande) to form a GCG. The desire certainly did not come from their mutual liking but pressure from .... yes you and me as citizens of our beloved Kenya and some nudge from the International parties with vested interests.
3. Taking the S. African route may pay faster that hoping for the Indian case as concerns clients for BPO work. S. Africa built a strong local outsourcing before venturing out to obtain international work. Here again GoK needs to be made to walk the talk....imagine if the Judiciary let transcription work be done by young (wo)men who now are joining in
droves to illegal outfits (making non Kenyans think all our unemployed young ones are Mungiki adherents)?
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education because of inability to pay the university fees what makes us (in GoK for example) shy off the Egyptian model (see http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7931 for Egyptian case of incentives like rental and training subsidies between 85% and 100%) so as to open doors to the young ones instead of lamenting that the Media is being negative when they make a headline story of how a Crisis is unfolding as we open and blink our eyes.
Have to run off to MoHE,S&T workshop for validation of Science, Technology and Innovation Bill, University Bill and Technical, Industrial, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Bill.
It was good while it lasted.
Kind regards,
David
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
-- Day 12 of 12- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up --
After extremely interesting discussions yesterday, where I summarized once or twice during the day, we would like to bring the BPO discussion to a close. It was very interesting to see that many of you were concerned that the media is portraying Kenya negatively and this could (or maybe was) affecting some of the decisions of potential investors. Some in the media fraternity responded that they really must report what is there and
their priority is Kenyans not foreigners first. As one said “…bottomline- the media can’t just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There are the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported”.
Thank you to all of you who have actively participated both online and offline (directly to the moderators sometimes) during the last 12 days. To recap, we have covered the following themes:
1. The policy, legal and institutional frameworks for BPO sector 2. Subsidies accorded to BPO sector 3. Human Capacity Issues 4. Youth and Gender Issues 5. Strengths, Challenges and niches for Kenya as a BPO destination
As we wrap up today I believe we could have done more justice to the institutional framework issue. More specifically I draw from the conclusion of the institutional framework summary and the question:
*In conclusion for Kenya, it can be observed that there is an overlap between KenInvest and the Kenya ICT Board when it comes to promotion of Kenya as an investment destination to potential investors. There could be other overlaps as well. For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are
for
technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems. In addition, there is need to coordinate between ICT Board, KenInvest, EPC and MoEST. The big question is: Who will perform the coordination? Finally, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Directorate in the Ministry of Planning has never been devolved into the ministries and public enterprises. Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak. At the same time, the institutional framework for Vision 2030 is in
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/608168/-/item/1/-/3te68rz/-/inde... promises, their that planning the
formation* *stages and, even if it were to develop strong M&E capabilities, it may not be able to marshal enough power to ensure corrective action is taken by the concerned institutions in a timely manner. *
This draws me to the discussion question*: What needs to be done to improve/strengthen the institutional framework in order for the BPO and outsourcing sector to play its planned role in the Kenyan economy?*
Let us discuss this today and any other gnawing issues in all the thematic areas as we wrap up.
Best,
Nyaki
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David, You very clearly stated "in ICT there seems to be laxity" where 500 nillion is being returned to Treasury. The story very clearly states the reason why Treasury had to reallocate the budget. The motives in your earlier post were not good because you are in a postion to know better and you should. I actually expect a formal apology. Ndemo. Sent from my BlackBerry® -----Original Message----- From: David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com> Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:49:42 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 12 of 12 -- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: bitange@jambo.co.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke
Dear Dr. Ndemo, With all due respect, you appear to lose me here. The partial statement you qoute below comes from http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/608168/-/item/1/-/3te68rz/-/inde... As regards, formal apology, please let me know if it is to be directed to:- (a) your person (individual), (b) your official capacity, (c) organizers of the just ended BPO discussion, (d) Kicktanet list owners and listers, (e) all the above or more than one of the above. The above is without prejudice and as the case(s) may be will be addressed accordingly. Finally, and if your permit, on appropriate forum we may debate the reasons monies are returned/recalled to Treasury year in year out. Is it by accident or design? 2009 its famine. 2008 it was IDPs. ......1999 it was drought....1991 it was land clashes. Is it by accident or design? Kind regards, David On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 2:40 AM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
David, You very clearly stated "in ICT there seems to be laxity" where 500 nillion is being returned to Treasury. The story very clearly states the reason why Treasury had to reallocate the budget.
The motives in your earlier post were not good because you are in a postion to know better and you should. I actually expect a formal apology.
Ndemo.
Sent from my BlackBerry®
-----Original Message----- From: David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:49:42 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 12 of 12 -- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up
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--
Listers, My last take on institutional framework: There needs to be a body overseeing all these ministries. It will determine which Ministry will handle which component (seeing how different ministries are doing business parks etc and duplicating efforts). And no, I do not see it having such a high budget. The savings it will make across all ministries by eliminating all the duplication will be more than enough to sustain it. This duplication of efforts is wasting scarce resources and needs to be managed. In my view, an independent separate body would do. It will simply be there to evaluate and coordinate all BPO activities across all ministries and "home" them. A one stop BPO body. Gilda Odera Quoting David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com>:
Morning Nyaki,
You say "*For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems.*"
We were 'lucky' to have been involved, as advisers to GoK (one of the crucial mandates of National Council of Science and Technology) in the formative task forces set to see to it that we do not miss out on the ICT & Science and Technology Parks development. At the technocrat level we reached the stage where the need to merge efforts (additionally Ministry of Industrialization has Industrial Parks; Ministry of Trade has Incubation Parks etc.) was clearly communicated to decision makers. The coming up of the Special Economic Zones later should have assuaged the fears expressed in your quote above, however many commentators e.g. "On the ICT side, however, there seems to be some laxity. Not much has been heard about the Business Process Outsourcing Park which the minister earmarked Sh900 million for its construction." see http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/608168/-/item/1/-/3te68rz/-/inde... ....appear to side with you and hence on that matter lets rest the case as the month of June draws to a close. However, shs. 400 million of the above money was used to buy (pay for deposit) land in Arthi River area, and sadly the shs. 500 million may be returned confirming the title of the above story i.e. Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget
You say "*Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak.*"
We may have to look at 'independent entities' for a way forward on this one. Drawing from the debacle during the supplementary budget when the 'typo cum computer error' was detected by MARS group and later brought to the attention of the rest of the parliamentarians by one MP, it may pay to look outward for effective M&E. This is why it makes sense to strengthen, say the Kenya BPOCC Society (as concerns BPO issues) which is composed of individuals and entities that represent private, public and academia.
That brings me to your question for the day, and here are some suggestions.
1. We need to walk the talk. Imagine if the shs 500 million bound to be returned to Treasury for lack of "absorptive capacity" had the Ministry of I&C, CCK and KICTB calling for a stakeholders forum (composed mainly of BPO operators and academia plus even the Kenya BPOCC Society) to give them a way out (how to spend it) and hence not have a situation of "Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget" ?
2. Coordination between decision makers who do not trust one another is an unrealistic expectation. What may work is akin to what made the Two Principals accept (shingo upande) to form a GCG. The desire certainly did not come from their mutual liking but pressure from .... yes you and me as citizens of our beloved Kenya and some nudge from the International parties with vested interests.
3. Taking the S. African route may pay faster that hoping for the Indian case as concerns clients for BPO work. S. Africa built a strong local outsourcing before venturing out to obtain international work. Here again GoK needs to be made to walk the talk....imagine if the Judiciary let transcription work be done by young (wo)men who now are joining in their droves to illegal outfits (making non Kenyans think all our unemployed young ones are Mungiki adherents)?
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education because of inability to pay the university fees what makes us (in GoK for example) shy off the Egyptian model (see http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7931 for Egyptian case of incentives like rental and training subsidies between 85% and 100%) so as to open doors to the young ones instead of lamenting that the Media is being negative when they make a headline story of how a Crisis is unfolding as we open and blink our eyes.
Have to run off to MoHE,S&T workshop for validation of Science, Technology and Innovation Bill, University Bill and Technical, Industrial, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Bill.
It was good while it lasted.
Kind regards,
David
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
-- Day 12 of 12- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up --
After extremely interesting discussions yesterday, where I summarized once or twice during the day, we would like to bring the BPO discussion to a close. It was very interesting to see that many of you were concerned that the media is portraying Kenya negatively and this could (or maybe was) affecting some of the decisions of potential investors. Some in the media fraternity responded that they really must report what is there and that their priority is Kenyans not foreigners first. As one said bottomline- the media cant just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There are the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported.
Thank you to all of you who have actively participated both online and offline (directly to the moderators sometimes) during the last 12 days. To recap, we have covered the following themes:
1. The policy, legal and institutional frameworks for BPO sector 2. Subsidies accorded to BPO sector 3. Human Capacity Issues 4. Youth and Gender Issues 5. Strengths, Challenges and niches for Kenya as a BPO destination
As we wrap up today I believe we could have done more justice to the institutional framework issue. More specifically I draw from the conclusion of the institutional framework summary and the question:
*In conclusion for Kenya, it can be observed that there is an overlap between KenInvest and the Kenya ICT Board when it comes to promotion of Kenya as an investment destination to potential investors. There could be other overlaps as well. For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems. In addition, there is need to coordinate between ICT Board, KenInvest, EPC and MoEST. The big question is: Who will perform the coordination? Finally, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Directorate in the Ministry of Planning has never been devolved into the ministries and public enterprises. Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak. At the same time, the institutional framework for Vision 2030 is in the formation* *stages and, even if it were to develop strong M&E capabilities, it may not be able to marshal enough power to ensure corrective action is taken by the concerned institutions in a timely manner. *
This draws me to the discussion question*: What needs to be done to improve/strengthen the institutional framework in order for the BPO and outsourcing sector to play its planned role in the Kenyan economy?*
Let us discuss this today and any other gnawing issues in all the thematic areas as we wrap up.
Best,
Nyaki
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On Jun 16, 2009, at 3:03 PM, godera@skyweb.co.ke wrote:
There needs to be a body overseeing all these ministries. It will determine which Ministry will handle which component (seeing how different ministries are doing business parks etc and duplicating efforts). And no, I do not see it having such a high budget.
It is also called the Prime Minister's Office. Can one of the outcomes of this discussion be Kictanet to organise a delegation to his office with a view of requesting him to assume the vacant position of National ICT Champion to lead us as our sage in the detente between ICT and Media amongst other sectors?? No need establishing another quango as is being suggested here when you have a functional office entrenched in the constitution and read together with the national accord. The Prime Minister suffices. Sometimes I wonder where some of us went to school!!! (on a light note).
Bw. Kagai, I concur with your suggestion and also with Gilda's concern of duplication. The effort need to be coordinated by strengthening existing institutions. Best regards Senaji On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 4:25 PM, Bildad Kagai <billkagai@gmail.com> wrote:
On Jun 16, 2009, at 3:03 PM, godera@skyweb.co.ke wrote:
There needs to be a body overseeing all these ministries.
It will determine which Ministry will handle which component (seeing how different ministries are doing business parks etc and duplicating efforts). And no, I do not see it having such a high budget.
It is also called the Prime Minister's Office. Can one of the outcomes of this discussion be Kictanet to organise a delegation to his office with a view of requesting him to assume the vacant position of National ICT Champion to lead us as our sage in the detente between ICT and Media amongst other sectors??
No need establishing another quango as is being suggested here when you have a functional office entrenched in the constitution and read together with the national accord. The Prime Minister suffices. Sometimes I wonder where some of us went to school!!! (on a light note).
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Listners. When we talk of institutional framework in my understanding is not a political office but on office mandated to interface between the BPO and the probable markets, translate the market requirements of those markets to the BPO , communicate effectively and market the value proposition and Kenya's competitiveness as a BPO destination both locally and abroad. This body could be KICTB, Brand Kenya.....! A political office can only be ceremonial and nothing to do with tactical. The political office will only associate with a well cordinated outfit producing products. With not products, very difficult indeed. Sam ________________________________ From: Bildad Kagai <billkagai@gmail.com> To: saguyo@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 4:25:31 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Institutional framework On Jun 16, 2009, at 3:03 PM, godera@skyweb.co.ke wrote:
There needs to be a body overseeing all these ministries. It will determine which Ministry will handle which component (seeing how different ministries are doing business parks etc and duplicating efforts). And no, I do not see it having such a high budget.
It is also called the Prime Minister's Office. Can one of the outcomes of this discussion be Kictanet to organise a delegation to his office with a view of requesting him to assume the vacant position of National ICT Champion to lead us as our sage in the detente between ICT and Media amongst other sectors?? No need establishing another quango as is being suggested here when you have a functional office entrenched in the constitution and read together with the national accord. The Prime Minister suffices. Sometimes I wonder where some of us went to school!!! (on a light note). _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: saguyo@yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/saguyo%40yahoo.com
On Jun 16, 2009, at 6:21 PM, Sam Aguyo wrote:
A political office can only be ceremonial and nothing to do with tactical. The political office will only associate with a well cordinated outfit producing products. With not products, very difficult indeed.
Bwana Sam, In my opinion, branding has a lot to do with 'kujiuza'. In UK/Europe, the most recognized brands could be sportsmen and now the Obamas are emerging as one of the top selling brands. In Kenya, the brand that gets all the live coverage every afternoon from Tuesday to Friday at parliament, half of the pages in any newspaper everyday and also part and parcel of our week-end entertainment is the POLITICIAN. Brandishing politicians as ceremonial and inconsequential could be the root of all the problems we face as a country. Especially now that they will be controlling about a billion bob annually for their constituency development. All that is required is turning them into a more attractive brand e.g. Obama and his Blackberry.....just thinking aloud....you can imagine turning your tv set to see the Prime Minister using his blackberry and other ICT gadgets to answer questions...and that way we start getting the recognition ICT deserves....and bla bla bla.....
Yes Bwana Bill, You are right in absolute terms. However, you are ahead in my opinion! The way i look at it is to have a body that would interface between the players and the markets, through strategy formulation. I imagine the body to inteprate the practical potential of the players and the market demands, formulate a strategy that the politician can promote. Yes i expect to see Obama and Blackberry, Obama and Facebook, remember Blackberry and Facebook are brands that Obama can therefore associate with. What am saying the body that can build this brand. This body could already be existing but needs to re-tool or otherwise Sam ________________________________ From: Bildad Kagai <billkagai@gmail.com> To: saguyo@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 6:56:00 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Institutional framework On Jun 16, 2009, at 6:21 PM, Sam Aguyo wrote: A political office can only be ceremonial and nothing to do with tactical. The political office will only associate with a well cordinated outfit producing products. With not products, very difficult indeed. Bwana Sam, In my opinion, branding has a lot to do with 'kujiuza'. In UK/Europe, the most recognized brands could be sportsmen and now the Obamas are emerging as one of the top selling brands. In Kenya, the brand that gets all the live coverage every afternoon from Tuesday to Friday at parliament, half of the pages in any newspaper everyday and also part and parcel of our week-end entertainment is the POLITICIAN. Brandishing politicians as ceremonial and inconsequential could be the root of all the problems we face as a country. Especially now that they will be controlling about a billion bob annually for their constituency development. All that is required is turning them into a more attractive brand e.g. Obama and his Blackberry.....just thinking aloud....you can imagine turning your tv set to see the Prime Minister using his blackberry and other ICT gadgets to answer questions...and that way we start getting the recognition ICT deserves....and bla bla bla.....
Listers, this discussion is not new to KICTANET, we are going in circles, its time for ACTION Regards On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 7:42 AM, Sam Aguyo <saguyo@yahoo.com> wrote:
Yes Bwana Bill,
You are right in absolute terms. However, you are ahead in my opinion! The way i look at it is to have a body that would interface between the players and the markets, through strategy formulation. I imagine the body to inteprate the practical potential of the players and the market demands, formulate a strategy that the politician can promote. Yes i expect to see Obama and Blackberry, Obama and Facebook, remember Blackberry and Facebook are brands that Obama can therefore associate with. What am saying the body that can build this brand. This body could already be existing but needs to re-tool or otherwise
Sam
------------------------------ *From:* Bildad Kagai <billkagai@gmail.com> *To:* saguyo@yahoo.com *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Tuesday, June 16, 2009 6:56:00 PM *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Institutional framework
On Jun 16, 2009, at 6:21 PM, Sam Aguyo wrote:
A political office can only be ceremonial and nothing to do with tactical. The political office will only associate with a well cordinated outfit producing products. With not products, very difficult indeed.
Bwana Sam, In my opinion, branding has a lot to do with 'kujiuza'. In UK/Europe, the most recognized brands could be sportsmen and now the Obamas are emerging as one of the top selling brands.
In Kenya, the brand that gets all the live coverage every afternoon from Tuesday to Friday at parliament, half of the pages in any newspaper everyday and also part and parcel of our week-end entertainment is the POLITICIAN. Brandishing politicians as ceremonial and inconsequential could be the root of all the problems we face as a country. Especially now that they will be controlling about a billion bob annually for their constituency development.
All that is required is turning them into a more attractive brand e.g. Obama and his Blackberry.....just thinking aloud....you can imagine turning your tv set to see the Prime Minister using his blackberry and other ICT gadgets to answer questions...and that way we start getting the recognition ICT deserves....and bla bla bla.....
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Sam, I think we(Bill, Yourself and I)the same thing) in different words. We are concurring that the one stop body is definitely needed. Bill's suggestion makes some good sense. Gilda Quoting Sam Aguyo <saguyo@yahoo.com>:
Yes Bwana Bill,
You are right in absolute terms. However, you are ahead in my opinion! The way i look at it is to have a body that would interface between the players and the markets, through strategy formulation. I imagine the body to inteprate the practical potential of the players and the market demands, formulate a strategy that the politician can promote. Yes i expect to see Obama and Blackberry, Obama and Facebook, remember Blackberry and Facebook are brands that Obama can therefore associate with. What am saying the body that can build this brand. This body could already be existing but needs to re-tool or otherwise
Sam
________________________________ From: Bildad Kagai <billkagai@gmail.com> To: saguyo@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 6:56:00 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Institutional framework
On Jun 16, 2009, at 6:21 PM, Sam Aguyo wrote:
A political office can only be ceremonial and nothing to do with tactical. The political office will only associate with a well cordinated outfit producing products. With not products, very difficult indeed.
Bwana Sam, In my opinion, branding has a lot to do with 'kujiuza'. In UK/Europe, the most recognized brands could be sportsmen and now the Obamas are emerging as one of the top selling brands.
In Kenya, the brand that gets all the live coverage every afternoon from Tuesday to Friday at parliament, half of the pages in any newspaper everyday and also part and parcel of our week-end entertainment is the POLITICIAN. Brandishing politicians as ceremonial and inconsequential could be the root of all the problems we face as a country. Especially now that they will be controlling about a billion bob annually for their constituency development.
All that is required is turning them into a more attractive brand e.g. Obama and his Blackberry.....just thinking aloud....you can imagine turning your tv set to see the Prime Minister using his blackberry and other ICT gadgets to answer questions...and that way we start getting the recognition ICT deserves....and bla bla bla.....
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Thanks for your contributions Gilda and all, also kindly do not change the subject headers for ease of access and analysis for all and for the moderators. We will be able to glean the content once we access the message as the introductory email already laid out the issues including institutional framework. Thanks again, Nyaki ________________________________ From: "godera@skyweb.co.ke" <godera@skyweb.co.ke> To: elizaslider@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 3:03:51 PM Subject: [kictanet] Institutional framework Listers, My last take on institutional framework: There needs to be a body overseeing all these ministries. It will determine which Ministry will handle which component (seeing how different ministries are doing business parks etc and duplicating efforts). And no, I do not see it having such a high budget. The savings it will make across all ministries by eliminating all the duplication will be more than enough to sustain it. This duplication of efforts is wasting scarce resources and needs to be managed. In my view, an independent separate body would do. It will simply be there to evaluate and coordinate all BPO activities across all ministries and "home" them. A one stop BPO body. Gilda Odera Quoting David Otwoma <otwomad@gmail.com>:
Morning Nyaki,
You say "*For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems.*"
We were 'lucky' to have been involved, as advisers to GoK (one of the crucial mandates of National Council of Science and Technology) in the formative task forces set to see to it that we do not miss out on the ICT & Science and Technology Parks development. At the technocrat level we reached the stage where the need to merge efforts (additionally Ministry of Industrialization has Industrial Parks; Ministry of Trade has Incubation Parks etc.) was clearly communicated to decision makers. The coming up of the Special Economic Zones later should have assuaged the fears expressed in your quote above, however many commentators e.g. "On the ICT side, however, there seems to be some laxity. Not much has been heard about the Business Process Outsourcing Park which the minister earmarked Sh900 million for its construction." see http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/608168/-/item/1/-/3te68rz/-/inde... ....appear to side with you and hence on that matter lets rest the case as the month of June draws to a close. However, shs. 400 million of the above money was used to buy (pay for deposit) land in Arthi River area, and sadly the shs. 500 million may be returned confirming the title of the above story i.e. Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget
You say "*Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak.*"
We may have to look at 'independent entities' for a way forward on this one. Drawing from the debacle during the supplementary budget when the 'typo cum computer error' was detected by MARS group and later brought to the attention of the rest of the parliamentarians by one MP, it may pay to look outward for effective M&E. This is why it makes sense to strengthen, say the Kenya BPOCC Society (as concerns BPO issues) which is composed of individuals and entities that represent private, public and academia.
That brings me to your question for the day, and here are some suggestions.
1. We need to walk the talk. Imagine if the shs 500 million bound to be returned to Treasury for lack of "absorptive capacity" had the Ministry of I&C, CCK and KICTB calling for a stakeholders forum (composed mainly of BPO operators and academia plus even the Kenya BPOCC Society) to give them a way out (how to spend it) and hence not have a situation of "Broken promises, wrong plans in last budget" ?
2. Coordination between decision makers who do not trust one another is an unrealistic expectation. What may work is akin to what made the Two Principals accept (shingo upande) to form a GCG. The desire certainly did not come from their mutual liking but pressure from .... yes you and me as citizens of our beloved Kenya and some nudge from the International parties with vested interests.
3. Taking the S. African route may pay faster that hoping for the Indian case as concerns clients for BPO work. S. Africa built a strong local outsourcing before venturing out to obtain international work. Here again GoK needs to be made to walk the talk....imagine if the Judiciary let transcription work be done by young (wo)men who now are joining in their droves to illegal outfits (making non Kenyans think all our unemployed young ones are Mungiki adherents)?
4. If 3 out of every 100 eighteen year olds are not able to access University education because of inability to pay the university fees what makes us (in GoK for example) shy off the Egyptian model (see http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7931 for Egyptian case of incentives like rental and training subsidies between 85% and 100%) so as to open doors to the young ones instead of lamenting that the Media is being negative when they make a headline story of how a Crisis is unfolding as we open and blink our eyes.
Have to run off to MoHE,S&T workshop for validation of Science, Technology and Innovation Bill, University Bill and Technical, Industrial, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Bill.
It was good while it lasted.
Kind regards,
David
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>wrote:
-- Day 12 of 12- BPO Discussions, Wrapping Up --
After extremely interesting discussions yesterday, where I summarized once or twice during the day, we would like to bring the BPO discussion to a close. It was very interesting to see that many of you were concerned that the media is portraying Kenya negatively and this could (or maybe was) affecting some of the decisions of potential investors. Some in the media fraternity responded that they really must report what is there and that their priority is Kenyans not foreigners first. As one said “…bottomline- the media can’t just be improvised to promote the interests of the business and capitalist class. There are the rest of us citizens whose welfare, life and worries too must be reported”.
Thank you to all of you who have actively participated both online and offline (directly to the moderators sometimes) during the last 12 days. To recap, we have covered the following themes:
1. The policy, legal and institutional frameworks for BPO sector 2. Subsidies accorded to BPO sector 3. Human Capacity Issues 4. Youth and Gender Issues 5. Strengths, Challenges and niches for Kenya as a BPO destination
As we wrap up today I believe we could have done more justice to the institutional framework issue. More specifically I draw from the conclusion of the institutional framework summary and the question:
*In conclusion for Kenya, it can be observed that there is an overlap between KenInvest and the Kenya ICT Board when it comes to promotion of Kenya as an investment destination to potential investors. There could be other overlaps as well. For example, both KICTB and MoHEST are planning for technology/BPO parks. This is likely to lead to duplication of effort, differences in the messages communicated to stakeholders and confusion on the part of investors with respect to whom to deal with, amongst other problems. In addition, there is need to coordinate between ICT Board, KenInvest, EPC and MoEST. The big question is: Who will perform the coordination? Finally, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Directorate in the Ministry of Planning has never been devolved into the ministries and public enterprises. Whether it is a consequence of this lack of devolution or not, the M&E capacity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Kenya ICT Board and all the other institutions highlighted earlier is weak. At the same time, the institutional framework for Vision 2030 is in the formation* *stages and, even if it were to develop strong M&E capabilities, it may not be able to marshal enough power to ensure corrective action is taken by the concerned institutions in a timely manner. *
This draws me to the discussion question*: What needs to be done to improve/strengthen the institutional framework in order for the BPO and outsourcing sector to play its planned role in the Kenyan economy?*
Let us discuss this today and any other gnawing issues in all the thematic areas as we wrap up.
Best,
Nyaki
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participants (31)
-
Abubakar Karsan -
alice munyua -
Areba Collins -
Athar Ahmad Bhatti -
Badru Ntege -
Barrack Otieno -
Bildad Kagai -
Bill Kagai
-
bitange＠jambo.co.ke -
Catherine Adeya -
David Otwoma -
dmakali＠yahoo.com -
Edith Adera -
emko＠internetresearch.com.gh -
Eng. Thomas Senaji -
Gakuru Alex -
godera＠skyweb.co.ke -
Grace Bomu -
jwalubengo＠mmu.ac.ke -
Luvisia Bakuli -
muriuki mureithi -
Mwololo Tim -
Peres Were -
Prof. Waema -
S.Murigi Muraya -
Sam Aguyo -
Sammy Buruchara -
Solomon Mburu -
Victor Gathara -
Wainaina Mungai -
Walubengo J