Strong regulatory frameworks vital to success of BPO Industry in East Africa

OPINION

By Boniface Manyala 

Dr. Bitange Ndemo at the East African Outsourcing summit

On June 5 to 6, 2012 the East African Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) executives and those from various parts of the globe gathered in Nairobi to discuss the potentiality of BPO in the African region in relation to the current global economic situation.

The presence of such high-profile personalities such as Kenya’s Information and Communications Permanent Secretary Dr. Bitange Ndemo and Paul Kukubo, the Kenya ICT Board CEO pointed to a successful two-day summit, and indeed it was.

It is clear that Africa, and especially East Africa provides strategic outsourcing destination for companies in the West and is ready to compete with other leading global outsourcing destinations like India, Indonesia and Singapore.

This favorable outsourcing climate that investors in the region need to take advantage of includes, as Dr. Ndemo stated, government’s commitment to actively promote Kenya as an outsourcing destination of choice. 

I am sure that governments in the rest of East Africa are committed towards the same.  I say this because after listening Cayman Consults presentation by Uganda’s Abubaker Luwaga, there was no doubt that Uganda, just like Kenya is committed to create an environment that is favorable for outsourcing.  

In other words, we in East Africa are ready and equipped to handle outsourced work from western markets because our companies have an established tradition in best practices to deliver efficient and cost effective contact centers. This I must add is something we should be proud of.

We are also favored by a bright future, if we consider the global BPO market which is projected to grow at an average of 5.4 per cent every year in the period 2012 to 2015.  These, combined with the talent pool from the young graduates that our colleges and universities churn out every year, should spur the growth in the outsourcing industry.

Looking at our IT infrastructure shows that we are not doing badly considering that we have witnessed innovative IT-Enabled services prominent is such countries as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.

Significant presence has also been observed in Uganda and outside East Africa in Zambia and South Africa. It is notable that the social, economic and political expansion in East Africa has been accelerated by the strong forces of Information Technology. While we also boost as a strong tourism destination and availability of many companies that offer financial services.

True, the flourishing IT segment that consist of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) and ITES (IT-enabled services) are the core sectors that are driving the continent into the epicenter of transformation but all those favorable factors notwithstanding, we in East Africa cannot afford to seat on our laurels, we must, as Munjal Shah stated at the summit, make a deliberate move to encourage the growth of domestic BPO market. 

And how do we do this?  Easy, Let us protect the cost advantage to ensure that buyer interest are sustained, let us access untapped talent pools by creating awareness for youth to treat BPO as a long term career-building opportunity, let us build capacity to increase collaboration between industry and academic institutions by developing BPO Specific curriculums and education Models, but above all let us strengthen regulatory frameworks and ensure there is political stability in East Africa.

Read also here:  

Business Daily  

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Opinion+++Analysis/Strong+regulatory+frameworks+vital+to+success+of+BPO+Industry/-/539548/1435968/-/skuls7/-/index.html

Africa Business.com 

http://africabusiness.com/2012/06/18/strong-regulatory-frameworks-vital-to-success-of-bpo-industry-in-east-africa/

And on The Sauce.net

http://thesauce.net.au/category/business/outsourcing-strategies/  

Tanzanian IT Company-Going International

Since the 20^th century, IT has been the fastest growing industry in Tanzania. Eventually, IT has impacted tremendous growth across various sectors and also brought various business opportunities in Tanzania.

With this advent of IT, 15 years back, a small company named Techno Brain, commenced its journey by setting up an IT training centre in 1997 in Dar es Salaam. However unlike other companies, Techno Brain did not stop there and made a strategic move in enhancing its expansion of operations. It sought to offer ICT solutions within the African region. After a decade long journey, Techno Brain, the pioneer of IT in Tanzania, now stands as a leading ICT, IT Training and BPO/ ITES provider in Africa.

In an interview to a Tanzanian Daily, Manoj Shanker, Techno Brain’s Group CEO, stated, “Since inception, Techno Brain held a vision to be recognized as a respected, global IT firm, while also being committed to society’s development. With this vision and continuous support from governments across various African countries and strategic partners, Techno Brain has been able to create a difference in the lives of the common man with various innovative solutions”.

 Now, in a real sense, every day and at every stage, Techno Brain’s solutions are contributing to the endeavours of government or semi-government bodies in several countries to earn more revenue, ensure national security, enhance financial transparency, monitor drug trafficking, provide better citizen-centric services and ensure an environment free of child abuse and violence.

In the latter half of 2000, this Tanzanian IT company felt the need to widen its scope and go global. Thus, with an aim of leveraging the best infrastructure and the best pool available in India. Techno Brain has managed to go beyond borders and set up its first R&D centre at Hyderabad in India. Over time the company has also expanded its operations to USA, UAE and UK. These strategic moves placed Techno Brain in the cadre of a record breaker in terms of international success.

Techno Brain became the first Tanzanian IT company to go global and penetrate Indian market, to be recognized as the centre of excellence in IT in the world.  In 2011, the R&D centre was appraised at Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level 3.

 Over the years, Techno Brain has made its mark in Africa as a value-added ICT solutions provider. For its contribution towards providing effective and high quality ICT Solutions, the company has won several global awards such as the Country Partner and ISV Partner of the Year by Microsoft and number one IT Company among KPMG’s survey of top 100 mid-sized firms.

The journey for this Tanzanian company may not have been easy. However, armed with determination and a soaring vision, there seemed no aim too lofty that could not be achieved. Today, TECHNO Brain stands as a true example of enduring success as it continues to take giant strides into a promising future! 

Boniface Manyala

East Africa Outsourcing summit: More pictures

Lakshman reads through the summit programme, looking on is Rizvan Khan

Kennedy Aketch and Jean Gitau

Boniface Manyala and Jean Gitau

Techno Brain's Baris Vural (center) and Munjal Shah speak to one of the delegates

Munjal Shah, Director, Techno Brain

Munjal Shah

Delegates at the forum on the second day of the summit

Techno Brain at the East African Outsourcing summit

The East Africa Outsourcing Summit was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nairobi from 5 to 6 June 2012.

Techno Brain BPO/ITES, Business Process Outsourcing & IT
Enabled Services Division of Techno Brain, Africa’s leading Software Development and IT Training services Company, was Keynote Sponsor and exhibited at the East African Outsourcing Summit 2012.

Techno Brain was represented by Munjal Shah, Director, Lakshman Manickam, Director, Boniface Manyala, Public Relations Officer, Kennedy Aketch, Senior Business Development Executive, and Jean Gitau, Business Development Executive. Also in attendance was Techno Brain partner representative Ishdeep Singh, Head of Business Development, Drishti.