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The Kenya Vision 2030 aims at transforming Kenya into a rapidly industrializing and middle income country by 2030. The Kenyan Government is committed to providing an enabling business environment which will enhance private sector growth and competitiveness that will contribute to the country’s medium and long term objectives. To facilitate this, there is need to create formal engagement structures and partnerships to aid sharing of ideas between the Government and its various stakeholders.
With this in mind, a conference was organized by the Office of the Prime Minister in partnership with the World Bank Group. The conference, dubbed The Competitive Partnership Initiative (CPI) held at the Intercontinental Hotel intendeds to build upon two sets of initiatives that have been ongoing for the last two years; sector development initiatives and the public private dialogue. It also aims to sharpen the focus on addressing specific binding constraints and increasing investment generation efforts that are expected to achieve most impact in the short-mid-term.
The conference, graced by senior dignitaries in the public and private sector tackled issues hindering the growth of the BPO/ICT sector. Amongst them were Nicholas Nesbitt, CEO KenCall; Randeep Sudan, World Bank Group and Gaurav Gupta, Everest Group. They presented various ways in which partnerships between the government and private sector could be improved with the overall aim of transforming Kenya into a rapidly industrializing and middle income country by 2030; Select a sub sector for CPI and identify further analysis required by the selected sub sector.
Nicholas said “Kenya has a very big opportunity to grow in the BPO sector globally. The initiative has to come from our Kenyan Government in implementing marketing strategies to position Kenya as an outsourcing hub. It’s all about foreign entities buying into Kenyan companies for them to be able to forge a relationship with the local/domestic companies. This would increase our credibility and trustworthiness.”
Giving comments after the presentations, Gilda Odera, Chairperson,BPO/ITES Working Group, Office of the Prime Minister said: “It is important to create a balance and develop a balanced capacity in the sense of foreign and local companies so as to avoid collapsing.” “The government should work with the BPO/ICT to develop the outsourcing industry” she added.
The conference concluded with closing remarks from the Permanent Secretary Office of the Prime Minister. They indicated there would be a working group set up to develop targeted action plans to systematically remove constraints, prioritizing those that are expected to have the biggest impact on increased investment in the short term.
 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta listening to a call on KenCall’s M-Kilimo service. |
As the outsourcing industry in Kenya continues to grow both locally and internationally, top ranking government officials are taking notice and investing more time in local BPO companies. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta accompanied by the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Finance, Mr. Joseph Kinyua, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Information and Communication, Dr. Bitange Ndemo and members of both Ministries, today visited KenCall to have a better understanding of how call centers and BPO’s operating. KenCall CEO, Nicholas Nesbitt welcomed the guests and took them around the centre describing the different services we do with our different clients and highlighted our M-Kilimo service which focuses on small holder farmers. The M-Kilimo service was of special interest to the Deputy Prime Minister and the team, as both the Minister of Finance and the Permanent Secretary sat and listened to a call as one of our agricultural experts responded to a farmer’s enquiry. This visit highlights the attention and support the BPO industry is receiving from the government and we look forward to more targeted incentives and support from government. | |||
Nicholas Nesbitt, Chief Executive and founder of KenCall today attended The Economist Dinner Debate held at the InterContinental Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya. The event was graced by various dignitaries from the Government of Kenya, top international and local business leaders and influential thinkers amongst them being Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga.
The main theme of the debate held in Nairobi was to assess whether Africa’s young Population was a risk or an opportunity for growing prosperity. This was due to recent studies that indicate Africa’s young and growing population as one of the continents biggest advantages.
The event Kicked off with a welcoming and introductory remarks from one of the senior economist journalists a keynote speech from the Prime Minister, Raila Odinga. Subsequently, the debate began and the panelists were John Githongo CEO, Inuka Kenya Trust, Elke Wisch, Deputy Regional Director, Eastern and Southern Africa UNICEF and Nicholas Nesbitt, CEO, KenCall. They tackled and discussed the high unemployment rates in Africa, whether the private sector can be able to create sufficient jobs for the young generation and what the next steps are in improving their education and skills.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga then spoke briefly about Kenya’s new constitution, the future green energy in Kenya and the East African Community and the role Kenya plays. The event ended with closing remarks from the chairman who summarized the main points, gave his remarks and thanked all the participants and attendees.
