Monday 10th May 2010

Think Africa, and you could be forgiven if the first things that came to your head are dictators and poverty. After all, that’s how the media often portrays the continent. But it’s also a land of “immense
opportunity”, says Nicholas Nesbitt, founder and CEO of Kenyan call centre KenCall. “If only we can tackle some of the issues over perception, there is so much potential to be unlocked.” Nesbitt wanted to set up a call centre and outsourcing business. Kenya seemed the perfect place. English is the official language. Unemployment is high at 40%, so employers can be picky and staff turnover is low. The literacy rate is higher than in India, which is a popular outsourcing centre. On top of that, much primary and all secondary school education is conducted in Oxford-style English. This means that the accents of Kenyan call centre agents tend to be easier for Westerners to understand than those of their Indian counterparts.
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