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Enhancing Uganda’s Competitiveness in
Information Technology Enabled Services -
Business Process Outsourcing
Strategy and Model 2012
(Abridged Version)
National Information Technology Authority, Uganda (NITA- U)
Palm Courts, Plot 7A, Rotary Avenue (Lugogo Bypass) P.O.Box 33151, Kampala –Uganda
Website: www.nita.go.ug Twitter: @NITAUganda1 Facebook:facebook.com/NITA.Uganda
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Uganda BPO Strategy – Abridged Version
REVISION HISTORY
VERSION DATE OF RELEASE OWNER SUMMARY OF CHANGES
1.0 21st February 2014 Michael Newman Byamugisha
Initial Draft
2.0 March 2014 Julius Torach Review of structure, content and proofreading
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Table of Contents Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................. 5
1 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................................... 6
1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
1.2 The Global ITES-BPO Industry ............................................................................................................................ 8
1.3 ITES-BPO - Opportunity for Uganda ................................................................................................................. 10
1.4 Current State Analysis of Key Drivers to the ITES-BPO Industry .................................................................... 11
1.4.1 Human Capital ........................................................................................................................................... 13
1.4.2 Infrastructure Driver .................................................................................................................................. 14
1.5 BPO road map for the Short term (0-2 Years) ................................................................................................... 25
1.5.1 Generating Demand .................................................................................................................................. 25
1.5.2 Infrastructure ............................................................................................................................................. 26
1.5.3 Business Environment ............................................................................................................................... 26
1.5.4 Skill Development ...................................................................................................................................... 28
1.6 BPO road map for the Medium to Long term (2-5 Years and beyond) ............................................................. 28
1.6.1 Generating Demand .................................................................................................................................. 28
1.6.2 Infrastructure ............................................................................................................................................. 28
1.6.3 Business Environment ............................................................................................................................... 29
1.6.4 Skill Development ...................................................................................................................................... 29
2 Developing the Skill Base ........................................................................................................................................... 30
3 Marketing and Branding strategy .............................................................................................................................. 32
4 Building Infrastructure – Technology parks .............................................................................................................. 36
5 Target Markets for Uganda’s BPO Industry ............................................................................................................ 38
5.1 Key Industry Verticals ........................................................................................................................................ 38
5.1.1 Telecom ..................................................................................................................................................... 38
5.1.2 e-Government Initiatives ........................................................................................................................... 38
5.1.3 Utilities and Essential Services .................................................................................................................. 38
5.1.4 Banking, Financial Services and Insurance ................................................................................................ 39
5.1.5 Healthcare ................................................................................................................................................. 39
5.1.6 Education and Content Development ....................................................................................................... 39
5.2 Key Service Lines ................................................................................................................................................ 40
5.2.1 Contact Centre Services ............................................................................................................................. 40
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5.2.2 Data Entry and Processing ......................................................................................................................... 40
5.2.3 Information Technology Helpdesks ........................................................................................................... 40
5.2.4 Human Resource Outsourcing ................................................................................................................... 41
5.3 Projected growth .............................................................................................................................................. 42
6 Expected Returns for the Government ................................................................................................................... 43
7 Outsourcing Risks ..................................................................................................................................................... 44
7.1 Risks in implementing Uganda’s BPO Strategy .................................................................................................. 44
7.1.1 Country level risks...................................................................................................................................... 45
7.1.2 Firm level risks ........................................................................................................................................... 47
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Abbreviations and Acronyms
BPO Business Process Outsourcing
BUDS Business Uganda Development Scheme
COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa EAC East African Community
ERT Energy for Rural Transformation
FDI Foreign Direct investment
FTE Full Time Employee
IRR Internal Rate of Return
IT Information Technology
ITES Information Technology enabled Services
IVCA Indian Venture Capital Association
MoICT Ministry of Information Communication Technology
NBI National Broadband Infrastructure NCHE National Council for Higher Education
NITA-U National Information Technology Authority, Uganda
NSDC National Skill Development Council, India
PFSU Private Sector Foundation Uganda
SMB Small and Medium Businesses
SWOT Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats
TTT Think Tank Team, Uganda
UBPOA Uganda Business Process Outsourcing Association
UCC Uganda Communications Commission
UEPB Uganda Export Promotion Board
UEPC Uganda Export Promotion Council
UGX Ugandan Shillings
EASSy East African Submarine Cable System
EGI E-Government Initiative
CICS Competitiveness and Investment Climate
UNCCI Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry
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1 Executive Summary
1.1 Introduction
The Ugandan government has identified Information Technology Enabled Services–Business Process Outsourcing (ITES-BPO) as one of the key sectors to enhance economic growth and reduce youth unemployment in the country. The overall vision of the Ugandan government is to transform the country into a ‘Knowledge-Based Uganda’ where national development and good governance are sustainably enhanced and accelerated by timely and secure access to Information and efficient application of ICT. It recognizes the fact that the growth of ITES-BPO sector has a multiplier effect on the economy of the country, leading to higher investments, increased job creation and improvement in quality of life.
The government of Uganda established the National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U) in order to strengthen efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of public service through the use of Information Technology. NITAU’s cardinal Vision is “To make Uganda an internationally competitive and vibrant ITES-BPO destination.”
In pursuance of the above vision the Authority is will:
Co-ordinate, supervise and monitor the utilization of the Information Technology in the public and private sectors
Identify and advise Government on all matters of Information Technology Development,
utilization and deployment
Set, monitor, and regulate standards for information Technology planning, acquisition, implementation, delivery, support, organization, sustenance, disposal, risks management, data protection, security and contingency planning
Regulate and enforce standards for Information Technology hardware and software equipment
procurement in all Government Ministries, Departments and agencies
Provide first-level Technical support and advice for critical Government Information Technology
Systems
To develop Uganda’s ITES-BPO capability, the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MoICT) & Think Tank Team (TTT) led the development of a BPO strategy and model for the period of 2008 to 2011. In 2012, National Information Technology Authority-Uganda (NITA-U) reviewed and updated the strategy in light of global and regional developments in the industry.
With a natural flair for the English language and one of the most advantageous demographics globally, Uganda has the capability to be one of most competitive and niche ITES-BPO destinations. The formation of focused organizations like NITA-U, incentivizing ITES-BPO companies and recognition of the ITES-BPO sector as one of the prime levers of job creation, are steps in the right direction. However, to compete effectively, it has to reduce its infrastructure costs significantly and enhance the infrastructure reliability. It will have to supplement the employability of its youth by providing industry aligned trainings. Finally, incentives and supporting structures will have to be extended to facilitate the industry growth.
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To develop its capability internationally, it will have to target small and medium businesses regionally and globally and collaborate with more matured destinations like India. Implementing the strategy will require coordinated effort from various stakeholders in the Uganda ITES-BPO industry and planned investment in capacity building and industry promotion initiatives.
With the right structure and support in place, Uganda has the potential to create a niche in ITES-BPO
services as identified below.
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1.2 The Global ITES-BPO Industry
The ITES-BPO Industry
Business Process Outsourcing is the delegation of one or more IT intensive business process to an external provider that in turn owns, administers and manages the selected processes based on defined and measurable performance criteria. Historically the Offshoring industry started off with major multinationals setting up shared service centres in India to achieve cost arbitrage. The evolution of the industry is shown in the adjoining table.
BPO service lines can be divided broadly into domain
specific services, horizontal services and knowledge based
services.
Years
Process
1960s
Time sharing
1970s
Data processing
1980s
Entire IT operations
1990s
Shared business services
2000s
B2B partnerships via Internet
2000s
Process outsourcing via Internet
2000s
IT-enabled offshore services
Table 1- History of Outsourcing
This is diagrammatically represented below:
Figure 1 - Verticals and Horizontals in ITES-BPO Services
Vertical specific service lines solve problems related to business process characteristic to a particular
industry. The BPO services or solutions made for a particular vertical are usually non-transferrable and
are unique to a particular industry.
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Some examples of vertical BPO service lines are given below:
Banking &
Healthcare
Telecom
e-
Utilities
Education
Finance
Government
Retail and
Clinical Data
Network
G2C – Income
Billing &
Course design
Merchant Core
mgmt.
mgmt.
tax, passport
Collection
Content Banking
Medical
Billing
and visa, e
e-
Development Solutions
writing
Assurance
posts, social
registration
Remote Consumer &
Clinical trials
Supplier &
security
Service
Learning Trade Finance
support
Partner
G2B – Excise,
Fulfilment
Assessments Credit and
Medical
mgmt.
Company
Score Analysis Debit cards
transcription
Service
Affairs,
mgmt.
Fulfilment
Commercial
Retirement
taxes, e- Services
procurement
Table 2 - Service Lines within key BPO Verticals
Horizontal Services cut through verticals and provide business supporting and back office services that include customer interactive services, finance & accounts, human resource, training and procurement. These services and their relation to Uganda are discussed in detail later; however, horizontal services cover the following range of activities:
Customer
Finance &
Human Resources
Training
Procurement
Interactive Services
Accounts
Telemarketing
Accounts Payable
Payroll
Content
Source to
Product Enquiries
Accounts
Compensation &
Development
Contract Collections
Receivable
Benchmarking
Content Design
Contract Customer Helpdesk
Expense mgmt.
HR Audits
Content
Management Financial Reporting
Time &
Deployment
Procure to Pay Project Accounting
Attendance
E-learning
Transaction Tax mgmt.
Leave Tracking
Assessment
Management Asset mgmt.
Recruitment
Performance Management Spend Analysis
Table 3 – Key Processes within BPO Industry Horizontals
Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (KPO) refers to outsourcing knowledge intensive tasks that help businesses make strategic decisions. It broadly covers the service areas of business research, analytics and legal process outsourcing (LPO).
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Analytics
Business Research
LPO
Customer Analytics
Industry Research
Contract Management Services
Supply Chain Analytics
Market opportunity assessment
Document Review Services Finance & Accounting Analytics
Competitive Analysis
Intellectual Property Services Human Capital Analytics
Company Research
Legal Research Services Data Mining & Predictive Analytics
Financial Reports
Litigation and Administrative Retail Analytics
Support Services
Table 4 - Key Processes within Knowledge Processes
1.3 ITES-BPO - Opportunity for Uganda
As services sector is becoming more competitive and globalized, organizations are looking to outsource
their non-core functions in order to gain agility, efficiency, access to newer talent and markets and save
costs. ITES-BPO, defined as outsourcing of business functions to third party service providers or captive
centres in low cost countries is an important lever to achieve this objective.
For offshoring destinations, ITES-BPO industry has created jobs at massive scale and facilitated economic growth, prime examples being India and Philippines globally and South Africa and Egypt in the African continent. Its major impact on the offshoring countries has been in terms of:
Accelerated economic growth: In India, the ITES-BPO sector grew 16 times in the last decade, employing 835,000 people in 2011 and contributing 1.2% to GDP.
Direct Job Creation: Revenue of an ITES-BPO
service provider depends on the number of agents
that are being billed to the clients. This creates an
impetus for an ITES-BPO service provider to grow
linearly by employing more agents. The sector also
requires lower educational standard as compared
to IT sector and is easier to address.
Indirect Job creation: Typically for every agent employed, three jobs are created indirectly in dependent industry and service sectors. These include real estate, infrastructure, education, transport and technology.
Increased foreign investment: Significant cost arbitrage provides the businesses in the buyer’s geography to increase their outsourcing spend in favorable destinations. Having a lower currency valuation in the global market provides more room for an emerging economy to increase foreign direct investments.
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Uganda’s geographical proximity with Europe, large youth population and growing service sector employment provides it an excellent opportunity to grow its ITES-BPO market share, domestically, regionally and internationally. Having recognized the ITES-BPO as an employment creator of youth and enabler of economic growth, it has taken a positive step forward. Further, NITA-U’s initiatives like strategizing the ITES-BPO growth, creating incentivizing schemes, developing the infrastructure and initiating ITES-BPO training are encouraging signs for the growth of Ugandan ITES-BPO industry.
1.4 Current State Analysis of Key Drivers to the ITES-BPO Industry
Uganda’s ratings and four critical areas – human capital, infrastructure, business environment and supporting structures were benchmarked and compared against most relevant leading and emerging destinations which were India, Kenya, Ghana and Jamaica. Information related to the factors and sub-factors were collected through interactions with key international, domestic and regional stakeholders along with references to published industry, business and economic reports.
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The following SWOT diagram summarizes Uganda’s current potential to create a vibrant ITES-BPO
industry.
Strengths Weakness
• Large pool of potentially good English
speaking population.
• Competitive labor costs differential to
U.S. and U.K. companies.
• Stable geo-political environment in
comparison with neighboring as well as
other countries worldwide.
• ITES-BPO sector identified as a focus
areas for economic development by the
government.
• Availability and penetration of telecom
and Internet services are rising.
• Cyber laws to protect ITES-BPO investors
have been promulgated.
• Employability in the context of the ITES-
BPO industry of large talent pool is
proportionately low.
• Inadequate ICT education infrastructure
and training facilities.
• High cost and lack of availability of high
quality buildings.
• High Telecom costs and lack of last mile
connectivity
• High inflation and interest rates, despite
recent decreases.
• No policies or incentives specifically for
the ITES-BPO sector.
Opportunities Threats
• Leverage the image of its democratic and
relatively stable political environment
towards establishing itself as a regional
hub for offshoring services.
• Establish itself as a subcontracting hub
for more established destinations.
• Develop offerings such as call centre and
data processing in the short and medium
term for the domestic, regional and
international market
• Leverage opportunities created by the e-governance initiatives to kick start the Industry
• Lack of participation at premier ITES–
BPO Business Linkage events may not
create visibility for “Brand Uganda”
• Proactive investment promotion of the
ITES-BPO industry by competing regional
destinations, such as Kenya
• Currently there is a lack of participation
and synergy between the key
stakeholders in the industry.
• Mature BPO destination lowering costs
by moving into smaller cities and towns.
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1.4.1 Human Capital
Talent quality and availability is one of the key evaluation criteria for prospective investors in the ITES-BPO sector. Inherent skill and capabilities of the workforce also dictate the market segments that could potentially be targeted. Based on the review and analysis of the market done, the strengths, weakness and recommendations for the Human Capital factor have been summarized in the following table:
Current Strengths
Current Weaknesses
English is Uganda’s business and official language and also the medium of education from primary to tertiary level.
High unemployment rates of 11% keep costs
competitive and make a larger pool of talent
available.
Attrition rates in the existing ITES–BPO companies are in the range of 5%, much lower than compared to matured destinations.
The labour costs are competitive with leading offshoring destinations
There is strong cultural affinity with the US and
UK
The manpower in Uganda is more attuned to rules based processes. As most BPO processes are rule based, this is a positive sign for Uganda
The current talent coming out of universities is
IT savvy and possesses basic skills in Word and
spread-sheet packages
There are capacity constraints for provision of ICT education at the senior secondary school and college levels
There is also an absence of market/ demand led
curriculum; course curriculum needs to be
aligned to industry requirement.
Whilst talent pool availability is substantial at entry level, it is not so at middle management and senior levels
Labour cost differential offered by Uganda is not very diverse from the same offered by countries such as India and Philippines
There is a paucity of readily deployable technical talent and professionals in Uganda
Training requirements are high in order to reach
requisite quality levels of service delivery
PC proliferation is very low outside of the main
towns and cities and this is challenge for the
widespread adoption of ICT and development of
ICT skills throughout the country
Lack of ITES-BPO business knowledge and entrepreneurship skills. These include awareness of US/UK markets, domain expertise and ability to create strong business linkages.
Most youth have theoretical knowledge but lack practical skills
Recommendations
Implement the training initiatives supported by NITA-U at the earliest and encourage more participation from the Industry. Invite international experts to develop course modules and undertake parts of Train the Trainers program
Provide training incentives to firms in the ITES–BPO sector that would be linked to the total number
of jobs created.
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The industry academia linkage is currently not very strong. Some efforts have been taken to bridge
the gap. Initiatives such as formal partnerships between education institutions and existing
companies to identify training gaps and structure customized training programs are encouraged.
The academia should be included on the Uganda Business Processing Outsourcing Association
(UBPOA) platform as members.
The BPO service providers should also partner with the local universities to recruit the students. In such an arrangement, the university will need to have a dedicated BPO career cell.
Initiate action on developing a national skill registry database which could be readily accessed by
firms setting up operations in Uganda
Build Uganda’s image, especially that of Kampala as a hub of knowledge economy in East Africa. This
will help in attracting talent from various neighboring countries. Some of these countries have a
large pool of French speaking people who can complement the large English speaking talent available
in Uganda.
Conduct Train-the-Trainer programs with skilled trainers from India, Kenya and Egypt to up-skill the training teams in Uganda.
1.4.2 Infrastructure Driver
ITES-BPO companies by virtue of their global clientele and support of critical business processes are required to operate 24/7 making them critically dependent on factors such as telecom and internet links, quality power supply, road and air connectivity and suitable real estate. Infrastructure forms a very critical and major component of decision making process for location selection, with the availability and quality of infrastructure directly impacting the ease of doing business as well as the cost of doing business in a location. The key strengths, weakness and recommendations for the infrastructure driver have been summarized in the following table:
Current Strengths
Current Weaknesses
The Telecom industry in Uganda is liberalized and has presence of multiple players across different segments
Internet availability and penetration is on the
rise. Telecom operators have been licensed to
offer broadband on 3G and 4G which is
further improving internet penetration
Access to telephony (as measured by tele-density) has significantly improved over the last five years, primarily due to the introduction of mobile telephony in the country
Initiatives are being undertaken towards
ensuring that telecom costs for BPO operations
are competitive with other destinations. E1 costs
Quality of internet network needs substantial
improvement
Bandwidth rates are currently higher than most
competing countries and it’s expected to
continue until there is increased penetration of
last mile connectivity and greater adoption.
Telecom set up time (especially where location requires substantial last mile interventions) has come down, but is still high
High taxes on calls constitute a substantial part of the telecom costs for end users (30%)
There is a lack of quality real estate “Grade A buildings”
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have come down over the years and rates are
expected to fall further
Cost effective services such as VOIP have been
allowed for ITES-BPO services
Setting up and propagation of the Incubation
centre by NITA-U should kick start the BPO
operations in Uganda
As most of the technology park projects are currently in the planning stage, park availability is limited in the short to medium term.
Frequent power outages make electricity supply
unreliable
Relatively higher costs of IT hardware and software
Recommendations
Uganda has made significant improvements on the cost of bandwidth though it has not yet reached international costs competitiveness levels. It is recommended that in the initial years the fledgling ITES-BPO industry be given priority while allocating telecom bandwidth for their operations.
The government through UCC should perform continuous international benchmarking of prices and
regulate prices to keep Uganda costs competitive in the telecom space.
Commercial real estate costs are very high. Reducing the real estate costs by means of incentivizing
and rebating for the initial period is recommended.
Accelerate the development of Technology Parks. Keeping in mind all amenities required, transport connections, support services, recreational facilities, residential townships, etc.
It is further recommended that uninterrupted supply of quality power be assured to occupiers of the
tech parks and designated zones, treating BPO as essential services. This factor should be
considered in the design and planning stages of tech parks. Alternative sources of energy like Geo-
Thermal need to be looked at.
Local traffic congestion issues need to be addressed. Steps should be taken in this regard of decongesting the city for traffic by putting in place proper traffic planning and introducing quality and cost effective mass rapid transport system that ensures smooth flow of people within the city
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Business Environment
Business and financial environment, tax and regulatory environment, general law and order situation, administrative hurdles etc. have a direct impact on the ease and cost of doing ITES-BPO business. The following table summarizes the key strengths, weakness and recommendations for the Business Environment factor.
Current Strengths
Current Weaknesses
Uganda is one of the most politically stable
democratic countries in the region.
Compared regionally, the law and order within the country is well under control and forms a major attraction for investors
A well established and functioning NITA-U
with different departmental initiatives
provides the necessary impetus for
stimulating investment into the sector
The Uganda Government has signed host of Direct Taxation Agreements (DTAs) and other form of Investment guarantees that would provide confidence to investors
Reduced time to setup businesses will help
drive investments upwards in the BPO sector
Low taxes are a strength for attracting foreign
players into Uganda
Passing of laws related to computer misuse, e-signatures and e-transactions to instill confidence in foreign investors
Uganda has high inflation and interest rates
which are not conducive for domestic
entrepreneurs
There is need to further improve the interactions between the various government bodies and the private sector to promote Investments in the BPO Sector
Bank loans are hard to come by for small and medium sized companies. Also, lack of availability of venture capital / private equity funding is a big hindrance
Lack of specific incentives to the BPO sector
hampers the scaling up of the sector
Recommendations
A coordinated effort by various agencies including NITA-U, UIA and UBPOA is needed in putting across the message of attractiveness of Uganda as an ITES-BPO destination and the available benefits to investors. With this regard regular meetings of the representatives of various facilitating agencies would go a long way in addressing this issue.
Increase awareness on information security, data privacy and intellectual property laws
Encourage government sponsored venture capital fund for investment in the ITES-BPO sector.
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Supporting Structure
Supporting structure includes the established ITES-BPO service providers & presence of immediate supporting environment for the growth and development of the industry in the country. The immediate support environment includes the recruitment agencies, training firms, transportation, catering, office support, real estate maintenance, security, general office supplies, housing market, recreational facilities and such other connected firms. The presence of established service providers is a sign of vibrancy in the sector and their success is a major factor in attracting foreign investment in the sector. Key findings and recommendations for the supporting structure factor are summarized below:
Current Strengths
Current Weaknesses
Initiatives have been undertaken by NITA-U to
introduce ITES-BPO training
UIA has proven to be a one stop shop to encourage and ease the set-up of business in Uganda
Various supporting bodies such as the Private Sector Foundation and Enterprise Uganda have a good understanding of the BPO sector
The UBPOA association is formed and promoting the BPO industry
Private sector training institutes primarily provide training in IT and networking skills. ITES-BPO specific training program is limited.
Financing and venture capital industry is not
matured. Culturally, even the promoter’s
general tendency is not to dilute their stake.
There is a lack of co-ordination between the various supporting entities
The UBPOA is still in a very nascent stage and needs guidance to clearly identify its mandate
Recommendations
The government should promote investments in the BPO sector through its venture capital fund. Currently interest rates are too high and bank loans are difficult to obtain. Initiatives must be taken to educate the VC fund on ITES Sector as well as Service Provider on fund raising.
Venture capital fund should also be encouraged by local and provincial governments to further attract companies in their region. This would also improve competition among regions to attract investment.
A roadmap and an investment promotion strategy needs to be developed for the UIA as well as NITA-U to effectively brand and market the BPO sector in Uganda. A fixed budget needs to be allocated towards investment promotion
Housing is expensive in Kampala. BPO firms that would like to bring in large chunk of people
initially to stabilize operations would face a huge challenge in finding affordable housing. It is
recommended that sufficient attention be given to housing during the design and development
of technology parks.
The UBPOA will have to build a mandate and road map for the future. They will have to become a strong driving force to advocate policies and initiatives that would be conducive to the growth of the BPO sector in Uganda.
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Target Market Segment
The current state analysis of Uganda ITES-BPO industry has shown that Uganda can establish its competitiveness by carving out a niche in certain ITES-BPO segments. Based on the review of Ugandan market, key target markets for Uganda were identified. The key target markets include certain key industry verticals, horizontal services as well as select geographies.
Based on the review and assessment of the inherent drivers in Uganda and global experience, the
following key areas are recommended as the top priority for Uganda:
Niche Areas
Drivers
Contact Centre for
Domestic and Regional Telecom companies are growing at a very healthy rate and the
Telecom & BFSI
customers are demanding better service. (Domestic – Short
High English speaking population term; International –
Labour shortages and rising wages in the India, Ireland and other preferred call centre Medium term)
locations are driving shifts to alternate locations that can provide a healthy mix of labour arbitrage and a sizable and scalable talent pool. Uganda can also attract small and medium size enterprises (SME’s), who are evaluating offshoring of their contact centre functions, in order to ease the pressures on their bottom line. Uganda enjoys a very small time zone difference with Europe which makes it an ideal location for voice based processes
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Contact Centre for E-
Governance
(Domestic – Medium
Term)
Contact Centre for
Utilities
(Domestic – Short
term)
Contact Centre
services for Health
Care – Telemedicine
(Domestic : Medium
Term; International-
Long term)
IT Helpdesks across
Industry Segments
(Domestic – Short
term; International –
Medium Term for
BFSI, Telecom and
Other Sectors)
Digitization and Data
Processing for e-
Government
Initiatives
(Domestic – Short
term)
Digitization and Data
Processing for
Utilities
(Domestic – Short
term, International
Long term)
Government’s focus on ICT adoption in near term through E-Government infrastructure
Need to reduce queries and cycle time in processes like business registrations and
taxation
Establishing one stop shop for government related information
Improving data collection from businesses and citizens to develop country level
statistical information
Rising customer expectation in the domestic market
Operational efficiency in the Utilities sector
Emerging trend worldwide to outsource customer service activities for utilities to
third party providers
Various telemedicine initiatives have been taken up by the Government of Uganda
In the short term, Contact Centre Helpdesk for HIV and Malaria can be provided
The current environment and lack of opportunities in country is leading to the brain
drain in the healthcare sector Uganda has the maximum number of Cisco certified network administrators in the
region
IT education at a tertiary level is popular and sought after
There is a move towards digitization in the domestic market
The regional and international demand for IT helpdesks is a large segment
e-Government’s initiative will drive the requirements to digitize and centralize the
current record keeping system
The e-Government initiatives in Uganda have a huge scope to subcontract various
digitization and data conversion activities to service providers
Digitization activities require less training and limited infrastructure
NITA-U is responsible for various e-Government projects as well as kick starting the
ITES-BPO industry, making collaboration easy
Need to increase operational efficiencies
Improve accessibility to business and citizens by modernizing billing system,
provisioning and access to information
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Data Entry in the
health care for
International Clients
– Medical
transcription
(Domestic – Short
term, International –
Medium term)
Data Processing for
Banking, Financial
Services and
Insurance
(Domestic – Short
term; International –
Medium term)
Content
Development &
translation for the
Education Sector
(Domestic– Short
term, International –
Long term)
Knowledge Process
for Health Care
(Domestic– Long
term, International –
Long term)
Knowledge Process
for Law/Architecture
and Market Research
(Domestic – Medium
term, International –
Long Term)
Improve access to information for international and domestic agencies dedicated to
healthcare improvement
Large population of senior secondary school graduates that can be trained and made
employable, in addition to graduates and medical professionals
There is pressure to outsource medical transcription in order to further reduce the
cost of operations in U.S. and European countries.
Opportunity of low-end medical transcription getting outsourced from countries such
as India and mature destinations to cost-effective destinations.
Increasing cost of insurance and health care in the U.S. and Europe, which is driving
offshoring of these processes.
Low cost of resources in Uganda with respect to various emerging destinations makes
it an ideal location for data entry and processing activities
High number of graduates as well as high school pass-outs make Uganda suitable to
perform these activities
Training requirements are relatively lower in basic data entry operations
The BFSI industry is growing in Uganda with more than 20 banks present and 21
Insurance companies present
Uganda has a good amount of fairly qualified graduates passing out every year
Education is very important to Ugandan community and the diaspora
A focus on education and e-learning by the government creates an opportunity for
content development in the domestic market
Uganda’s skills in English and graphics along with a flair for creativity makes content
development an area of focus
Reduce the brain drain for medical staff like doctors and nurses
Leverage on current research on medical aid in Uganda
Assist international firms trying to develop medications specific to Uganda in market
research activities
In the medium to long term scenario, KPO provides a good platform to market the
country as a location with skills to perform high complexity tasks
There are large market research firms already in Uganda employing between 300-500
people each namely Synovate and TNS
Architecture and Law are taken up by students in the university level and fair number
of them pass out every year
There is a brain drain amongst Architects, indicating a lack of jobs for them, providing
an avenue to them would increase employability amongst these sets of people
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ITES–BPO opportunity in Africa
Africa has been seeing sustainable economic growth and development in many countries. At an average growth rate of 5.6 per cent a year, Africa was one of the fastest growing developing regions from 2001 to 2008 (AfDB and UNECA, 2010). Not only was the growth widespread across countries, with about 40 per cent of them growing at 5% or above, it was also broad based, with many sectors contributing resources, finance, retail, agriculture, transportation, Information technology and telecommunications. A recent analysis by the Economist also finds that over the 10 years to 2010, six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last decade, the simple average of the countries’ growth rates was virtually identical in Africa and Asia, with Africa likely to take the lead in the next five years. This growth could be attributable to government action to end armed conflicts, improved macroeconomic conditions, microeconomic reforms undertaken to create a better business climate, widespread connectivity and larger capital inflows, among other factors. Africa is set to continue to profit from rising global demand for resources like oil, natural gas, minerals, food and arable land as the continent boasts an abundance of riches. But what will drive Africa in the next decade or two is its burgeoning youth population that could become a real blessing for the region. According to the 2010 Africa Economic Outlook, more than 60 per cent of Africa’s population is under the age of 25. The United Nations Population division also observed that Africa’s youth bulge is quite unique. The region will account for 29 per cent of the world’s population aged 15-24 by 2050, up from 9 per cent in 1950. By comparison, Asia/Pacific and Latin America/Caribbean countries will maintain their 1950 shares of 54 per cent and 7 per cent respectively by 2050. Most of the African nations have embarked or are in the process of embarking on comprehensive & innovative strategy to tackle today’s youth unemployment largely with a renewed focus on information and communication technology (ICT).
Africa has become a prized investment destination. The dynamism in mobile telecommunications has
provided a vibrant source of growth for many African countries. Modernizing the banking system has
also provided further sources of growth. African nations are also investing a lot on training and skill
development.
The telecom penetration is steadily increasing year after year. It is estimated that telecom has grown more than 5000 times over the last 5 years and has a subscriber base exceeding 400 million. This presents an excellent opportunity for BPO as services in areas like Know Your Customer (KYC) and Call Centre.
Further, Africa has good English and French speaking capabilities which make it a good choice of a near-shore destination for Europe. BPO’s provide jobs to youth from a wide range of educational qualifications. Noting this opportunity, countries like Kenya, Ghana, Mauritius, Tunisia and Morocco have started investing in initiatives to build their BPO capabilities.
The digital connection of East Africa with Europe by the landing of optical fibres in Mombasa, Kenya,
is greatly expected to raise the quality of telecom infrastructure in the region and bring down the
telecom costs.
Initiation of regional communities like EAC will further integrate the efforts of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi to attract FDI and grow its human and infrastructure capacity. With existence of a Customs Union (started in 2005) and a ‘Common Market’ (started in 2010) along with plans to form a monetary union, Uganda will benefit greatly from access to its regional markets. COMESA has also supported this trend by establishing free trade among its 19 member countries and members of EAC.
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The ITES-BPO Framework and Roadmap for Uganda
To sustain and scale the ITES-BPO industry in Uganda, a robust ITES-BPO frame work that comprises of three key elements is recommended – The Governance Group, the Implementation Roadmap and the Monitoring and Evaluation framework as described in the figure below.
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The Governance Structure: The Governance structure should have two levels which include:
I. The Strategic Committee: This level of governance would include representatives from the
Ministry of ICT, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic
Development, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives and the Office of the President.
The key role of this committee would be to directionally align each of the ministries, lobby favorable policies for the ITES-BPO industry and integrate the efforts to attain a common objective i.e. to create an environment that enables and facilitates implementation of the efforts in the key focus areas across various ministries. The committee will also advise the cabinet on the key decisions required to make Uganda a highly attractive ITES–BPO destination.
Key Role of the strategic committee aim to
a. Ensure enabling laws, regulations, policies and strategies for the growth and
development of BPO/ITES are developed and enforced; b. Build ICT infrastructure that will facilitate the growth and development of the BPO
industry
c. Engage senior stakeholders and donors to support BPO/ITES policies and initiatives
d. Assign ownership and accountability for BPO governance to stakeholders.
e. Establish guidelines for investment in the BPO industry f. Provide BPO incentives g. Investigate and provide ways to remove impediments to industry competitiveness.
II. The Operational Committee: The operational committee would comprise of key representatives
from NITA-U, Chairman of UBPOA, Representative from UIA, Representative from the Academia
and Key Training institute, Representatives from other supporting bodies such as Enterprise
Uganda, Private Sector Foundation, Competitiveness and Investment Climate Strategy (CICS)
Secretariat, MoFPED, Representatives from other ministries such as Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
UCC, NPA etc. The role of this committee would be to
a. Oversee and own the various strategic initiatives to scale up demand for the BPO sector
b. Lobby for Infrastructure development
c. Work towards enhancing business environment including investment promotion and policies
d. Operationalise various skill development initiatives and monitor their implementation e. Identifying and mitigating challenges and risks faced by the BPO sector
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Roadmap for scaling up the BPO sector
Implementation Roadmap
- Roadmap for Successful scaling up of the BPO sector
Uganda has certain inherent strengths and advantages to quickly kick start the BPO industry. Harnessing those strengths such as language skills, IT knowledge, lower wages, presence of basic infrastructure etc. in the short term would be essential to build the base of the Industry. In the medium term, with greater awareness and incorporation of adoption of the best practices Uganda will see a presence of scalable BPO industry. In this phase emphasis should be to build process capabilities in the country. In the long term, with the BPO industry acquiring scale and service providers reaching maturity curve, Uganda should strive for high value work and end to end process or functional capabilities.
Uganda will also need to create a very strong value proposition that meet the needs of diverse groups:
For all target segments: Show that Uganda is a great place for business and lifestyle
For African targets: Create awareness of the benefits of outsourcing and Uganda’s comparative
advantages
For UK & US targets: Dispel misconceptions and promote Uganda as the destination for
outsourcing
For India & Philippines service providers: Create awareness about Uganda as the next spoke in
the wheel for their global delivery models.
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1.5 BPO road map for the Short term (0-2 Years)
In the short term focus should be on various incentives and initiatives to attract investors and entrepreneurs to adapt to the outsourcing industry in a planned fashion. A thrust towards creating awareness, beginning various skill development initiatives and putting together the basic infrastructure would be essential. Results of various initiatives taken up in the short term will start yielding results in the medium to long term. The suggested road map is for the critical drivers for the BPO industry which includes generating demand, infrastructure development, enhancing the business environment and building the skill base. Various recommendations for each of these drivers have been highlighted in the section below.
1.5.1 Generating Demand
Creating Awareness
Building awareness within local and regional buyers about the BPO industry through organizing various workshops will help create awareness about the BPO industry. Uganda, in the short term should identify key buyers within the government and the private sector to sensitize them on BPO through a series of workshops. The latent potential within Uganda needs to be harnessed initially to bring the BPO industry to an effective size and scale which helps in marketing ‘Brand Uganda’ in the medium and longer term
Government Outsourcing – Pilot Project
Government in Uganda can act as a source of anchor demand and in the immediate short term, pilot projects can be outsourced to service providers which arise from the various e-Government Initiatives. Digitization projects act as an avenue to build the skill sets, generate employment as well as propel Uganda to achieve the digital revolution. Identifying Service provider with capabilities to deliver on project and supporting creation of joint ventures would be required to jump start the industry
Market Promotion in Key Buyer regions
In the short term, Uganda will have to immediately work towards identifying and targeting buyer regions to effectively market and promote the industry. Road shows for branding Uganda would play a key role in generating a strong ‘Brand Uganda’ and would put Uganda on the sourcing map.
Market Promotion in Key Service Provider regions
Uganda should strategically target market promotion activities in key service provider regions such as India and Philippines to take on the excess work that flows to these regions. Targeting service providers to set up operation in Uganda to complement their existing business in India or Philippines to build capacity and reduce risk through diversification would be essential to bring in large investments.
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1.5.2 Infrastructure
Plug and Play facilities for BPOs
Physical infrastructure which is at par with the international standards plays a very critical role in attracting large Service providers. This not only instills confidence in them but also reduces the infrastructure setup time. Uganda has already taken the first step by creating the incubation centre with 240 seats in Kampala. Thus helping service providers to setup operations in a plug and play facility with various incentives on rent, power and connectivity. Similar set ups will need to be created for at least a 1000 seats. This would enable easy scaling up of operations and reduce set up costs and time for new market entrants substantially. This would also immediately act as a strong incentive to set up operations in Uganda.
Power
Power quality has been a deterrent to the BPO industry. While the country is making long term investments to improve the quality and distribution of power better, in the short term, reimbursing BPO organizations for the downtimes would help reduce costs of service providers. Excluding duty on diesel generators for the BPO companies would help mitigating the power problems in the short term
Broadband
Internet connectivity is the life line of the outsourcing industry and in order for the industry to grow and mature Uganda will need to invest heavily on upgrading the broadband connectivity and penetration across the country. Currently providing the Broadband from the national backbone to new locations is a challenge. The Government in Uganda will need to incentivize telecom operators to enhance the last mile connectivity for Broadband. The focus should be to enhance last mile connectivity in Kampala region, immediately.
1.5.3 Business Environment
Incentives
Fiscal incentives play a very critical role in attracting investors to a country especially in the nascent stages. Careful implementation of the fiscal incentives can result in improving country’s marginal competitiveness. The fiscal incentives should achieve the following objectives:
1. Equalise the local environment with global locations;
2. Display government commitment to industry growth by further improving labour cost competitiveness in the short-term
3. Attract 2-3 large scale players as anchors to kick-start Uganda’s
ITES–BPO industry.
In the short term, the Government along with UIA should focus towards
building an incentive structure to develop both the domestic BPO sector
and attracting foreign investments.
Incentives that would help propel the ITES-BPO industry are:
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Infrastructure :
- Subsidized Broadband and Electricity costs usually to the tune of
50% for the initial 2-3 years’ time frame
- Longer lease duration and reduced rentals in the technology
parks or incubation centres.
- Reimbursement of expense incurred by service providers in
providing power backup during power outages by the national
grid
Financial incentives :
- Funds to be available to set up ITES-BPO companies at a lower
rate of interest as compared to market rates
- Tax holidays on exports for the initial 5 years and reduced taxes
(50% lower) for the next 5 years
- 100% FDI to be allowed in the BPO sector
- Duty free imports of hardware and software equipment required
to set up the delivery centre
Training Incentives :
- Building a training grant structure based on skill assessment and
providing BPOs with 50%-100% subsidy or a fixed amount for
every employee trained and successfully absorbed in the
organization.
Building the ITES-BPO fund
Building and sustaining an ITES-BPO fund by NITA-U and Ministry of ICT would be essential in short term to successfully scale up the sector. This fund would help in infrastructure and human capacity building initiatives
Building ITES-BPO standards
NITA-U is in the process of working towards setting up standards for the ITES-BPO industry. This would reduce the learning curve and establish BPOs which are internationally competitive
- Develop BPO standards, benchmarked to international standards
- Incentivize all key BPO firms to adopt these standard
Data Protection and IP
laws
Passing of laws regarding Data and IP protection will instill confidence in
International players to invest in Uganda
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1.5.4 Skill Development
Skill Assessment and requirement development
Developing skills in the short term would require a focused approach towards identifying the skill gaps between the industry requirements and the current workforce. A detailed assessment of the current state scenario would have to be done. A step by step approach to developing the skill base is highlighted in the Developing skill base section of the document. It should be kept in mind that skill development should be synchronized with investment promotion, thus ensuring students graduating have a job in the sector.
1.6 BPO road map for the Medium to Long term (2-5 Years and beyond)
In the medium to long term, a sustained effort on various initiatives started during the short term phase
will have to be continued. The results of efforts put in the small term will begin to unfold in the medium
to long term. Effort will be required to adopt and customize these initiatives depending on the changes
in the Macro and Micro economic factors affecting them like revisiting the Investment promotion
initiatives and taking infrastructure to the next level by building large scale infrastructure projects such
as IT parks. By this time, BPO industry in Uganda should have established itself as a strong brand in the
domestic/regional markets and higher focus should be put towards placing it as a strong location in the
international market.
1.6.1 Generating Demand
Sustained efforts towards
generating business
linkages
The sustainability and scalability of the BPO industry requires a two pronged approach of targeting both the International and Domestic/Regional market. As a follow up to the investment promotion activity in the short term, planning for long term business linkages in essential. Identifying key international events for participation and enabling UBPOA to build capacity to promote the BPO industry via both inbound and outbound events would help build brand Uganda.
1.6.2 Infrastructure
IT Business Parks
An important component for the development and growth of the BPO sectors is the availability of infrastructure. Countries worldwide have initiated several projects around the creation of technology parks or IT Parks that provide organizations and employees a development-friendly environment and therefore encourage the formation and growth of businesses in the BPO industry. There has been an increased adoption of Public private partnership in building the IT Parks.
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1.6.3 Business Environment
Customized and Value based incentives
Sustenance of the incentive structure defined in the short term and providing customized incentives based on value of the proposition would be required. Encouraging large international providers to participate in government contracts with a rider of creating specific number of local jobs would help bring large flagship ITES-BPO companies and captive setups to Uganda
Enhancing the Funding
structure through
developing and
encouraging Venture
Capital Funds
Since non-governmental investors seek the highest possible return
consistent with the risk of the investment, government support programs
should aim either to increase the potential rate of return for non-
governmental investors, or reduce their risk of loss.
Some of the key initiatives the Government can take are :
- Direct participation or “seeding” of venture funds in younger
companies. Government can invest on the same basis as private
investors, thus increasing the size of the fund and allowing
greater diversification of its investments
- Government Loans or loan guarantees to licensed venture funds
that would invest within government guidelines, or guarantees of
fund borrowings
- Leveraged equity participation by government in private equity
funds
- Governments can provide guarantees against loss for investors as
a way of encouraging them to invest in venture funds
1.6.4 Skill Development
Targeted skill set development
In the Short term, Uganda needs to harness the existing capability in the workforce and work towards building on them. However in the long term, a focus on building specific skills based on the market requirements will be essential. Developing the high value low volume segment, which essentially is the KPO, would require building strong domain skills in areas of Law, Market Research or Analytics and Medicine. Specific course designed with the help of public private partnership will help build this.
Integrating requirements of the BPO Industry in the education curriculum
Post analysis of the skill gap, an effort should be made to include generic BPO trainings in the secondary and tertiary education. Improving written and spoken English language skills, computer literacy, foreign language skills can be made as a part of the secondary education curriculum. Building a feedback loop between the Industry Body/Association such as UBPOA and the NCHE would help achieve this objective in the long term
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2 Developing the Skill Base
Human capital is the most important part of a successful ITES-BPO industry. Currently, Uganda does not have the talent pool required for sustaining the future ITES–BPO sector’s growth. It will need to boost the talent pipeline as much as possible over the next five years. However, this target is extremely ambitious and will require significant commitment and resources. Moreover, such a target can only be reached by launching key programmes at a National scale and cannot be driven only at an Industry or Ministry level. Understanding the gap between current skill sets available and required skills sets for the industry would play a critical part in developing the skill base of Uganda. A structured approach to classify Skill Sets would be required to develop the skill base in the long term. The four key categories of skill sets that encompass a wide range of job skill requirements in the BPO‐ITES functions are as follows:
Technical Skill Set, includes core and hard skills essential for an ITES-BPO role. This category
includes areas such as Data Management, Communication, and so on.
Functional Skill Set, includes domain knowledge required for working in an ITES-BPO role. This category presents skill sets specific to a client business unit required for various job roles in ITES-BPO industry, such as Financial Management, Call Centre/BPO Industry Awareness, and so on.
Behavioural Skill Set includes soft skills essential for the BPO‐ITES industry such as coaching and
Mentoring, Persuasiveness, and so on.
Client‐specific Skill Set, includes a combination of soft and hard skills essential for working on specific projects. This category presents three client‐specific skill sets, including Client Knowledge and Responsiveness, Operational Excellence, and SLA and Global Delivery.
- Developing Skills at a National Level
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The road map to skill development should encompass the following key phases: I. Skill Gap Analysis: A detailed study will need to be commissioned to identify the current
levels of skill sets in each of the above mentioned attributes and identify gaps with the
industry requirements. This will also outline the priority skill development areas within the
BPO industry.
II. Skill Set Standards: Setting up standards for skill set requirements and acquiring individual
certifications would be required to match Uganda’s capabilities with global benchmarks
III. Curriculum Design: Post identification of the skill gaps between the standards and the existing skills for the niche areas identified for Uganda, the following steps would need to be undertaken:
a. Create a comprehensive ITES–BPO training curriculum for the potential and
incumbent workforce that will increase speed‐to‐efficiency.
b. Create a flexible and modular ITES–BPO Curriculum Map that enables training
institutions in Uganda to tailor training programs to meet the business needs of
the local industry.
c. Publish a set of well‐defined criteria for the eligible private or public players in the
training industry in the form of curriculum guidelines for ITES–BPO Curriculum
Map rollout.
IV. Program Accreditation Mechanism: The Accreditation Mechanism addresses the need recognize the course quality of the various ITES-BPO programs offered by training institutions. The Accreditation Mechanism is designed to prepare institutions to certify learners for professional practice. Designing an accreditation mechanism should include the structure of the accreditation body and the criteria for certification. The accreditation process is key to developing and marketing the skill base globally.
V. Training matching grant for implementation: To ear marks funds for broad based skill development, creating a financial model and incentive structure would be necessary. The financial model should include funds for providing equipment, training manuals, trainer’s salaries, and rebate on tuition fees.
VI. Implementation of the Skill Development Roadmap: Having developed the roadmap, implementing the roadmap which would include areas such as train the trainer program, selecting and training individuals would be essential. A strong partnership with the private sector would be required by the government to administer large scale training initiatives.
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3 Marketing and Branding strategy
The Government of Uganda will have to adopt a multipronged approach to Market and Brand Uganda as a favourable BPO destination. A detailed plan will have to be prepared to effectively reach out to potential clients and service providers. Some of the key promotional channels to brand and market Uganda are as below -
Website A Website acts as a single window of information. NITA-U has a very
comprehensive website which would act as the primary site for potential
investors and prospects. The following are recommended:
Currently www.nita.go.ug/index.php/projects/bpo is the default and lists
ITES–BPO as a project.
http://www.bpo.go.ug/ should act as the central repository of information and should continually add more information and data to make it a rich source of information for visitors. This should include all data on business setup, incentives and policies, business environment, infrastructure details and existing service provider among others.
Strong coordination of media / messaging across multiple sites such as
UBPOA, UIA and NITA U. NITA-U should work closely with these entities and
share its branding and messaging. All other websites would be provided as
links to the NITA-U website.
A detailed review of the website should be done and suitable
recommendations should be made and implemented.
Promotional Events Promotional events will be the cornerstone of investment promotion
roadmap for Uganda’s ITES–BPO Sector.
Uganda will need to participate in a number of in-bound and out-bound
events to create awareness about the opportunity available in Uganda.
NITA-U should participate in premier industry events such IAOP and
NASSCOM events, as they ensure high visibility as well as attract key
decision makers. This increases the effectiveness of Uganda’s efforts.
Conducting couple of in-bound trips is recommended for knowledge
sharing and best practice learning sessions. These would be conducted as
workshops where key decision makers from Uganda and adjoining regions
would participate and awareness about outsourcing would be generated. This
would help to create interest in the local industry and hence generate local
business.
UBPOA NITA-U should support UBPOA with building its calendar, events and list of activities and support with critical industry issues.
NITA-U should continue working closely with UBPOA to gather industry inputs
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and feedback and accordingly work on addressing their concerns and
Internet / Electronic
Media
Improving the business environment.
Recommended that UBPOA promotes the local industry through seminars
and workshops with involvement of industry leaders
NITA-U should extensively employ electronic media and internet to spread its
message to a larger community. The electronic media is highly cost effective
and has a wide reach. It is recommended to employ emerging web
Brand Ambassador
/ Local Leader
Brochures, Flyers,
Leaflets
Industry
Publications and
Surveys
technologies as well as traditional media such as CD-ROMs etc.
Internet Promotion – NITA-U should promote information dissemination through new internet tools such as Search Engine Optimization, Blogging, Wikipedia, use of Social Networking such as LinkedIn, Facebook etc. These are very cost effective and would enable NITA–U to spread its message to wider prospects. NITA–U should also consider hosting certain webinars in alliance with leading industry publications and bodies.
CD-ROMs – NITA–U could develop CD-ROMs / USB Sticks which would
complement the print brochures and be effective in events organized by the
NITA–U. This could typically cover interviews with ministers, industry
participants and NITA-U, information packs, presentations among others.
NITA-U should actively consider positioning a local leader as the brand
ambassador champion for Uganda’s ITES-BPO sector. For example, in India
this role was played by Infosys and its Chairman, Mr Narayan Murthy, In Egypt
Dr. Tarek Kamal ex Minister of ICT played the part successfully. The individual
should be a well-respected, qualified and visionary who could be projected as
the face of the industry. Such a strategy would ensure high media visibility
and is highly cost effective.
It is recommended to continue building more targeted brochures, flyers and leaflets providing detailed information for promoting the ITES-BPO sector. Such material would be used in the conferences, workshops and other such events.
It is important to coordinate the messaging across different entities such as
UBPOA & UIA so as not to duplicate or send confusing message to the market.
This can be accomplished by closely working together with various entities
and knowledge sharing.
Targeted materials for such brochures and flyers would be reviewed and
developed in the next phase of the engagement.
NITA-U should actively participate in leading industry publications and surveys
such as
- AT Kearney Global Services Location Index
- Global Services Top 50 Cities Ranking
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Public Relations
Research Content
Industry Roundtables
Local Media
High Commissions & Embassies
Non-resident
Ugandans
- Other publications like Global Services, CIO, Economist and Financial Times
NITA-U should leverage PR firms and activities to create a positive mind-share
with various stakeholders. The PR activities would work with client markets to
create a positive perception and also engage in lobbying for any specific
issues.
Leveraging public relations would assist in additional media coverage in the
local media in case of certain events, activities and visits.
NITA-U should publish regular newsletters and mailers to various stakeholders
as outlined in the operating context.
NITA-U should also publish whitepapers and case studies relevant to Ugandan ITES-BPO sector and include these in the regular communication with the prospects. Such content would provide prospective investors with a practical insight into Uganda’s value proposition. International Research & Consultancy organization can be engaged in the initial period to create the content of these newsletters and aligning it to the desired communication strategy.
NITA-U should invite senior academicians to publish industry research focused
on Uganda. Such intellectual property could then be leveraged in other
forums and events, as well as shared with broader audience.
NITA-U should periodically (preferably quarterly) conduct industry roundtable
wherein various government entities and service providers are invited. Such a
roundtable should have a clear pre-defined agenda and should include
updates from NITA-U and UBPOA. It should also act as a platform for
information sharing between various participants as well as gathering opinion
from industry leaders on critical issues.
NITA-U should continue to work with local media including Print (newspapers,
magazines), TV and Radio to educate the larger talent pool as well as business
community of the potential benefits of the ITES-BPO sector.
It is recommended to leverage Ugandan High Commissions in client markets such as US, UK, India, Philippines and South Africa. The High Commission should host industry and trade events and invite prominent industry leaders as well as Non-Resident Ugandans to participate in such events. The events should focus on educating and sharing the activities undertaken by NITA–U as well as Government of Uganda and invite investors to setup businesses in Uganda. Such events send a strong signal to the investor community and are highly effective in attracting investments.
NITA-U should also build and leverage relationships with other consulates
such as US, UK, France, India for information sharing and exchange about
potential foreign companies and sectors interested in Uganda
Non-Resident Ugandans are a well-qualified and strong community in US and
UK. It is recommended to leverage this community and their personal
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network to promote Government’s vision of promoting ITES-BPO sector. A
number of Non-Resident Ugandans are already showing interest in returning
to their nation and setting up local businesses.
This promotion can be carried out by building a database of such individuals
and sharing monthly newsletters and updates with them.
MNC’s interested in Government and NITA-U should actively work with other trade and
other sectors investment promotion bodies to effectively target multinational corporations
who have expressed an interest in investment in other sectors in Uganda such
as agriculture, mining and oil and gas among others. This would help NITA-U
to promote symbiotic relationships and seek investment in the ITES sector by
inviting such firms to setup shared services centres or locally procure BPO
services.
- Marketing Channels to promote Ugandan ITES-BPO Industry
It is recommended to work towards developing a roadmap for 12-18 months with strong business linkages to achieve the following key results
I. Identify potential target areas
II. Create Marketing and Branding collaterals
III. Training and coaching key stakeholders to effectively spread a unified message about Uganda
IV. Identify key international events to attend and present on Uganda
V. Identify key international stakeholders and conduct inbound events to demonstrate Uganda’s
capabilities and strengths
VI. Organize and attend outbound events to understand best practices and build business
relationships with key outsourcing locations such as India, China and Philippines.
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4 Building Infrastructure – Technology parks
Technology parks were conceptualized in 1970s, in order to facilitate technology transfer and to enhance entrepreneurship culture among the scientific sector. According to a definition from the International Association of Science Parks, “Technology parks stimulate and manage the flow of knowledge and technology among universities, R&D institutions, companies, and markets; they facilitate the creation and growth of innovation-based companies through incubation and spin-off processes; and they provide other value-added services together with high-quality space and facilities.” Developing Technology parks would require a structured approach and buy in from key stakeholders.
Developing a framework to develop IT parks will require:
I. Defining the value proposition and business case for building the technology park
II. Finalizing the location for the technology park and ensuring that the location meets
requirements of potential clients
III. Defining and identifying the key client profiles that would be placed in the technology park IV. Developing the supporting infrastructure such as real estate, telecom, electricity and water V. Promoting entrepreneurship and providing required assistance
VI. Creating a management and administrative authority VII. Marketing and promoting the Technology Park
- Building an ICT Park Infrastructure
With Reference to Uganda, a planned approach and adopting best practices from countries like China, India and Malaysia will enable a fast track development of technology parks. Technology parks boost the prospect of attracting FDI and enable a structured growth of the BPO sector. Technology parks require large capital investments and a carefully thought through approach is required to build and ensure occupancy of these parks.
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Synergizing stakeholders to grow Uganda’s BPO industry
Synergizing the key stakeholders strengthens the ITES-BPO development efforts and provides a monitoring mechanism to ensure rapid growth of the BPO industry in Uganda. The categories of key stakeholders are:
I. Government and Government Agencies:
The government plays a key role in building any sector in the country. Buy in from
the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development, Ministry of Trade,
Industry and Cooperatives together with Ministry of Education are important as they
directly impact the funding and building skill sets for the BPO industry.
I I . The Enabling entities: The enabling entities will help in creating a business environment conducive to the growth of the BPO sector. UIA and UBPOA being the two key entities will help in creating investment incentives and advocate policy changes as per the requirement of the Industry. UBPOA will act as a key body in terms of building the feedback loop between the service providers and the policy makers.
III. Supporting entities: These are stakeholders who will create a foundation and build capacity for the industry. Educational and training institutes will provide human capital, banking and financial institutions will support the financial needs of the industry, telecom and infrastructure companies will create the infrastructure for the growing BPO industry.
Uganda's ITES-BPO Ecosystem
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5 Target Markets for Uganda’s BPO Industry
5.1 Key Industry Verticals
5.1.1 Telecom
Telecommunication services remain vital services globally for consumers and businesses alike for next
phase of economic growth. Telecom vertical is a key adopter of BPO globally and provides an
opportunity for end-to-end outsourcing – including customer acquisition, customer service, billing and
revenue assurance, and network management. Some of the very large outsourcing deals in the recent
past have been in the telecom vertical.
The current telecommunications revolution is being led by mobile telephony. Large Telecom operators
like Bharti Airtel are looking to harness this large untapped market as well as contribute to the
infrastructure development thereby making it a more conducive outsourcing location. Airtel has already
invested $ 11 Billion in Africa which has led to almost a 50% reduction in mobile telecom tariffs. During
the past five years, Africa’ s cellular market has grown 5000% to over 400 million subscribers, making
the continent the fastest growing ICT market in the world.
Given the high growth potential of Telecom sector in Africa and with a 14 Million plus customers base of mobile and fixed line in Uganda alone the Telecom sector becomes a key focus area for Uganda’s BPO sector.
5.1.2 e-Government Initiatives
e-Government involves focusing on the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to assist in the transformation of government structures and operations for cooperative and integrated service delivery.
There are various initiatives and investments that have been taken up by the Government in Uganda under the e-Government initiative. A number of government institutions have also taken on computerization projects which increase the potential to outsource.
5.1.3 Utilities and Essential Services
Utility companies and Essential Services around the world are looking for ways to address the evolving needs of their customers. Customer Service in Utilities has traditionally been an integral part of the business however in the recent past, outsourcing in utilities has become a common phenomenon across the world, with major power distribution and energy firms outsourcing an array of services such as billing, call centre support, statement generation and remittance processes.
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5.1.4 Banking, Financial Services and Insurance
Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector has been pioneers in both outsourcing and offshoring. Competition, consolidation, compliance, geographical diversification, new product introduction are key drivers for BFSI firms driving them to become both efficient and innovative. Total BPO spending by this vertical is estimated to be anywhere between US$ 60 to 75 billion and
growing at a healthy rate. BFSI firms also operate one of the largest numbers of shared services and
captive centres in offshore locations such as India, Philippines, and China among others.
With access to banking and financial products on rise in emerging markets including Africa, BFSI vertical would continue to be a key buyer of BPO services. In our assessment, Uganda has a potential opportunity in providing customer service services, Telemarketing, data entry in the Banking sector and in the future in Policy Administration services in the insurance sector covering policy setup, maintenance and claims management. Due to a smaller size of the Insurance sector in Uganda, there is limited potential currently with insurance clients, but with the rapid growth witnessed in the recent past; this could become a large domestic area with potential for outsourcing.
5.1.5 Healthcare
Rising cost of healthcare, increased adoption of technology, prevalence of quality and performance based reimbursement models, evolving physician-hospital -patient dynamics are forcing the healthcare industry to recast business and care delivery processes. By leveraging BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), healthcare companies redefine their operating model and maximize value from their business processes. US healthcare spending has doubled since 2002, spending $2.5 trillion or 17.6% of their GDP in 2009. The industry is however grappling with escalating administrative costs. In UK, administrative costs in the National Health Services cost the government 1.8 million GBP annually along with 400 k GBP lost revenue due to non-standardization of paper based records.
The demand for BPO services will be in the areas of payer claims, enrolment, service, billing, provider contracting, care management, records digitization, payment collection, claims and enrolment processing, customer service, analytics, medical management, finance and accounting, procurement, and print management. Besides this medical helplines and tele medicine will also bridge the current gap between demand and supply of medical services in the country.
5.1.6 Education and Content Development
BPO services in education require updating, transcription and collection of information related to student progress records, application cycle, fees collection and enrolment which are essentially call centre, data entry and scanning services.
With Internet cutting the geographical barriers, E-Learning is becoming a buzz word with school students. E-tutoring is a part of E-Learning wherein students get help and guidance from On-line tutors sitting miles away from them. On-line tutors offer online assistance and help them with Mathematics, Science and other subjects for school students of all standards/grades. The students get experienced teachers to help them with their homework, projects and assignments.
US planned to spend USD 941 billion on education in 2012, out of which 252.1 billion would be spent on tertiary education. It is estimated that in US, Universities spend 4%-5% of their total budget spent on outsourcing or IT enabling their administrative functions. Out of this about 15% is spent on BPO related activities. This results in creation of $2 billion worth of BPO opportunities in the US education sector alone. Further, this opportunity is expected to grow by 15%-20% annually as educational institutes’ increase their BPO spend. The recent budget cuts in UK have forced the government to reduce its spending on the education sector by 70%. The institutions, especially the higher education universities are looking to
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outsource their administrative functions increasingly to countries like India and Philippines to be able to dedicate the diminished funds towards the purpose of imparting knowledge rather than back office. For example, renowned universities like Stanford University and New York University have outsourced their record management system and data entry to India to enable faster retrieval and standardization of student information. Given the strength of Uganda’s education system, regionally, in the areas of ICT and management, there lies a significant opportunity in course content design and development for these subjects. Once the optical fibre is fully functional and last miles are laid out, Uganda can also look at hosting and deploying educational services like e-learning and e- tutorial online for the regional market.
5.2 Key Service Lines
5.2.1 Contact Centre Services
Contact centre is an essential corporate resource that is the focal point of internal and external customer interactions. They act as an important bridge between the customer and the client. Typically contact centres focus on Customer Research, Acquisition, Customer Support and Retention.
A contact centre can handle inbound or outbound transactions and is used by various industry verticals including banking and financial services, insurance, telecom, hospitality, entertainment, retailing, manufacturing, fund raising, political awareness, education, government and many more. Enterprises also use contact centres for certain internal activities such as human resources, internal help desk, emergency management and communications helpline.
5.2.2 Data Entry and Processing
Data Entry Services encompass a wide variety of tasks that involves capturing, manipulating, and sorting data from different sources. Data entry services consists of keying data from manually filled and scanned forms, validation of these forms and involves rule based data entry with minimal (or none in most cases) decision making requirements from operator. The client interface is also minimal and that makes it easier to learn and implement across wide varieties of industry verticals.
The outsourcing industry began with data entry services where simple rule based processes across various industry back offices were moved to low cost countries to enable the host companies to channelize their focus on core competencies that builds firm values proposition. Data entry services range from offline to online services across Financial, Healthcare, Insurance, Manufacturing, Airlines, Telecom, Oil & Energy, Utility services, and Government back office operations. There continue to be significant opportunities in the Data Entry Services both regionally and globally for Uganda to target. Uganda’s workforce culturally is very adept in managing structured rule based processes. The key markets will continue to be US & UK where there is a growing need of Data Entry Services at a lower cost across various verticals.
5.2.3 Information Technology Helpdesks
IT helpdesks are single point of contacts that troubleshoot problems with computers, software and hardware. Organizations typically have a dedicated telephone line or automated bug tracking system that alerts the IT Helpdesk teams about an issue an employee is facing. The issue can relate to email, desktops, laptops, operating system, servers, firewalls or other telecom equipment. The trouble-shooter generally solves the problem online via screen sharing, chat, and email or on the telephone by identifying and understanding the root cause of the problem and its occurrence. IT Helpdesks need customer orientation and process understanding more than specialized skills. Our various primary sources have indicated that the soft skills like empathy and patience are natural to Ugandans. Further, adoption of ICT in rural and primary education should help the students be well versed with ways in
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which the computer hardware and productivity tools like email, spread sheets and word work. This will help them identify both regular and rare problems that occur with usage of these products.
5.2.4 Human Resource Outsourcing
Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO) is a contractual agreement between an employer and an external third-party provider whereby the employer transfers responsibility and management for certain HR, benefit or training-related functions or services to the external provider. The reliance on HR outsourcing has been significant. Increasing complexities in HR-related functions, changing laws and regulations and an inherent pressure to cut costs will continue to drive the market in 2012. In multi-national companies the recent economic crisis increased the appetite for HR outsourcing.
Focus within Target Markets and Uganda’s Value Proposition
Based on the review and assessment of the local landscape and global experience, Uganda is recommended to follow certain focus areas to effectively attract investments and build capability in the ITES-BPO sector. These focus areas should be approached in a phased manner according to the action roadmap. The rationale behind such a phased approach is to:
Build skill and capability by targeting the low hanging fruits
Progressively build expertise and target more global customers
Channelize the limited resources to effectively attract investments
A high focus in the short term i s on developing local and regional market as it would enable service providers to attain service maturity and capability which can be show cased to global clients. However, the international markets cannot be ignored as this would put Uganda on the global outsourcing map. These niche segments if targeted effectively will lead to a mix of high value low volume work as well as low value high volume work which would effectively place Uganda in a very healthy zone of competiveness. Short Term: In the short term, 4500 jobs leading to revenue of USD 28.3 Million can be created. A focus towards effectively tapping the domestic market should be created. Building infrastructure to achieve effective contracting and subcontracting will be required. Change Management within the existing industry as well as the Government would be required to embrace outsourcing.
Medium Term: The medium term focuses heavily on tapping the regional as well as the international market. Total jobs in the BPO industry are estimated to reach at 11000 people generating revenue of USD 124.7 Million. This would be possible through a two pronged approach of targeting large service providers to set up operations in Uganda as well as create awareness amongst the buyer community about Uganda as a competitive outsourcing destination. Investment towards branding and marketing and an investment promotion roadmap needs to be laid out and effectively implemented now to reap the benefits in the medium term.
Long Term: In the long term 16000 people are expected to be employed by the BPO industry. Along with sustaining the domestic and regional market, concerted and focused efforts will be required to rapidly expand the international market. The focus here would be to introduce high value low volume jobs such as research for Law and Architecture. Building skills and domain expertise as well as a brand Uganda along with large scale infrastructure development would be essential to reach this milestone.
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5.3 Projected growth
Based on projections and estimated implementation time frame of various government initiatives, the ITES-BPO industry is expected to create 16,000 jobs at the end of year 5 assuming an average growth, 20,000 jobs at a high growth and 12,700 jobs at a low growth. Post the initial 5 years of investment and building the sector, the BPO sector will grow at the natural rate of progression. It is estimated that the BPO industry will grow at a healthy 3-4% in the average scenario and 7% in the aggressive scenario. The job growth projections are shown in the below graph:
Estimated ITES-BPO Job Projections
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000 3500
0 2500
23185
20000 18548
16000 14723
9500 12700
7000 5700
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10
Aggressive Growth Average Growth Conservative Growth
Based on the above job growth projections and estimated revenue per employee, our revenue
projections for the industry is given below:
Estimated ITES-BPO Revenue Projections (USD Million)
350.0
300.0
250.0
200.0
150.0
100.0
50.0 17.6
0.0 12.6
325.0
260.0 206.5
206.4
165.2
71.6 131.2
52.8
43.0
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year
10
Aggressive Growth Average Growth Conservative Growth
3000
15.1
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6 Expected Returns for the Government
In terms of returns, the Government is expected to reap the benefits in the medium to long term scenario. The Government is expected to have a positive net cash flow of USD 34 Million, starting after year 5 and total cash inflow of USD 102.2 Million over the course of 10 years. Out of the total cash inflow, USD 15.5 million is expected from domestic markets and USD 86.7 Million from international markets. In total, to build the ITES-BPO industry focusing towards the Domestic and Regional Markets, an estimated cash outflow of USD 11.3 M is expected over 10 years, however, to focus on the international markets; an estimated cash flow of USD 56.8 M is expected.
A positive cash flow of USD 86.7 Million can be expected by focusing on the international markets which yields a rate of return of a very healthy 18.2% through earnings from Income tax, corporate tax and rents from the infrastructure created, a positive cash flow of USD 15.5 Million can be expected by focusing solely on the domestic and regional markets, hence yielding and rate of return of 8.9% over 10 years. A combined focus would be essential for the holistic development of the BPO industry and a positive return of 16% can be expected by the government on its investments in 10 years’ time
The Internal rate of return thus calculated for the projected cash flow stream would be at a healthy 16% for the 10 years. Focusing solely on the domestic and regional market would lead to an investment of USD 11 Million with a return of USD 15.5 Million in 10 years, with an internal rate of return of 8.9%.Whereas a focus on the international market would require an investment of USD 56.8 Million.
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7 Outsourcing Risks
Introduction
Having identified the key focus areas and initiatives in the ITES-BPO roadmap, Uganda will have to ensure that the right mechanisms are in place to track risks and mitigate them to protect its investments and reap the benefits of offshoring. These risks are not always obvious and need expert insight to pre-empt them and create warning mechanisms for their stakeholders. An expert also helps design an appropriate action plan that minimizes the impact of such risks.
The decision to make an outsourcing investment in a country depends on whether the returns outweigh the risks. Such a perception is created by analysing the trends of events in a country that have disrupted social, political and economic stability. The responses to such events by a country are also studied to measure the preparedness of a country. For example, although Egypt was perceived as one of the leading offshore destinations, the social uprising resulted in heavy business losses. This event negatively impacted the perception of Egypt as a favourable destination. The political corruption in India is also seen as a risk as it delays business processes like registration. With more than 50 emerging offshoring destinations promising near shoring, cost effectiveness, consistency of service quality and huge investments in risk control, the switching costs for a buyer are greatly reduced. For Uganda to be one of the leading countries of choice and to stay regionally and globally competitive, it is imperative for it to create and maintain a perception of a risk managed country.
Investments in a country are seen as a balance between Risk and Returns
Note: In order to manage risks, it is important to identify and monitor them.
7.1 Risks in implementing Uganda’s BPO Strategy
To have effective implementation of the strategy, it is important to recognize the outsourcing risks and implement a mitigation strategy to minimize their impact. The following section analyses the various risks that could impact the ITES-BPO strategy implementation. They have been broadly classified under two heads, namely country level risks and firm level risks. The tables below highlight the key risks for each of these segments and a mitigation strategy to attenuate the impact.
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7.1.1 Country level risks
Risks
Natural
Impact Mitigation Strategy
Develop a communication strategy to convey to the buyer
Impact
Attenuation
calamities like market that the country has a well-defined disaster
drought and management system to deal with such eventualities.
flood Collect statistics on business days lost due to such
Local Terrorism
Corruption
calamities and highlight improvement in dealing with such
events. Such communication initiative will be beneficial
towards building a positive perception about Uganda.
Project the efficacy of the law and order system in the
country. Communicate the initiatives taken to curb any
rebellion and terrorism.
Make the procedures for setting up and running ITES–BPO
business simple by cutting down on bureaucratic delays
and red-tape. Provide single window facility for
interaction with various government departments.
Highlight laws in place to penalize corrupt officials.
Political Communicate through organizations like UIA and in
Stability various Trade Forums like EAC and COMESA about the
stability of government and its progressive policies.
Lack of ITES– Conduct a regional and global benchmark study to
BPO sector understand the quantum of budgets required to
incentives incentivize Uganda ITES-BPO industry.
Lobby with the government to create ITES–BPO focused
funds
Encourage and collaborate with international fund
agencies and private firms to invest in Uganda.
High Operating Lobby with the Government to provide incentives,
Costs compared
to regional
taxation rebates and grants for the first 3 to 5 years of
operations.
levels Conduct a cost benchmarking study that regularly
monitors the operating costs regionally and
Delay in Optical Fiber installation & Lack of telecom redundancy
internationally, especially for the targeted segments
Provide soft loans / grants to telecom service providers to
increase the broadband and internet access penetration
to ITES–BPO units
Prioritize access to optical fibre for Technology Parks and
BPO units.
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may diminish
regional
competitiveness
Shortage of
employable
talent
Create a roadmap for building a 100% redundant network
with adequate bandwidth to ensure up time.
Invest in creating alternate landing points for optical fibre
via Tanzania to create parallel network.
Conduct a national level skills assessment for ITES-BPO
industry to understand the quality and quantity of skilled
manpower required and assess demand-supply gap
Create PPP (Private Public Partnership) programs to
Escalating costs
of power and
frequency of
power outages
Performance of Industry Association
Lack of effective
legal framework
for supporting
ITES-BPO
enhance training of manpower through vocational and
industry specific training. Provide adequate incentives to
service providers for providing on the job training.
Provision for backup facilities like Diesel generators
/ reimbursement for power downtime / subsidy on
diesel fuel to the ITES-BPO service providers
Incentivize and promote local firms to use and develop alternate energies. Conduct a study to understand the viability of tapping into
Geo-Thermal energy for electricity.
Closer coordination between NITA-U and UBPOA to create focused initiatives and promote ITES–BPO internationally and regionally like marketing & PR, skill development, policy making and ITES-BPO standards Development. Have regular meetings with NITA-U to update and address
issues pertaining to the ITES–BPO industry
Conduct a best practice study to understand how India
and Philippines governments support NASSCOM and BPAP
respectively.
Access to Information act has been passed and will help
the legal framework to support the ITES-BPO sector.
Country Level risks and Mitigation Framework
High
High Impact Medium Impact Low Impact
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7.1.2 Firm level risks
Risks Impact Mitigation Strategy Impact
Attenuation
Unrealistic Align stakeholder expectations through detailed service
customer
expectations
delivery discussions and contract negotiations
-Set the right quality expectations
-Keep client regularly updated through regular project updates and achievements -Train team on Relationship Management to effectively
Working Capital Risk
Inflexible
contracting
manage expectation of aggressive outsourcing buyers
Ensure that relationships with the investors and banks are
maintained and a strong record of performance is sustained
Also, keep the investors frequently updated through project
updates and achievements
Conduct quarterly and yearly negotiations to bring about the required change in contracting for currency fluctuations and scope creep
Put in place international best practices for effective
Operational
and Delivery
contracting
During the transition phase ensure requirement gathering is
conducted according to client’s requirements.
Risk Ensure that process training and other basic ITES-BPO
trainings are provided to the employees. Use on-the-job training to provide regular feedback to the
employee
Do a root cause analysis of any major slippage and make the stakeholders aware of the capability enhancement regularly Conduct a study to understand the applicable ITES-BPO standards. Aim to attain such standards and ensure that the relevant certifications for these standards are obtained Ensure a training calendar for the employees is in place which is regularly updated in accordance with the client Ensure back up plans along with business continuity
Compliance
& Security
risk
planning (BCP)and data recovery planning.
ITES-BPO operators have to agree to comply with the
regulatory framework and comply with set benchmarks as
stipulated in the law governing BPO operations.
Cyber laws and a strong policy framework emphasizing data
encryption and security controls need to be in place.
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Increasing Operating Costs
Ensure right infrastructure like CCTVs, swipe-in cards, virus
protection and IP protection is in place
Ensure employees sign client confidentiality clauses
Collaborate with other service providers to appraise NITA-U
regularly of rising operating costs in telecom, power etc. and
proactively lobby with government departments to sustain
health of the industry.
Firm Level risks and Mitigation Framework
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In the current globalization landscape, it is imperative for emerging economies like Uganda to proactively monitor and mitigate outsourcing risks. Having the right risk control mechanisms give clients and investors’ confidence in a country’s ability to provide sustained delivery. Although this section lists the risks and their respective mitigation strategies, it is in Uganda’s favour to utilize a globalization expert that has an in-depth knowledge of changing trends and client’s demands in global sourcing. An expert who will conduct detailed analysis of risks at various stages of implementation strategy and protect the investment.