Foreign firms to run first call centre
Sep 26, 2011
THREE firms from India and Kenya have been awarded contracts by the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U) to run Uganda’s pilot call-centre set up for business process outsourcing (BPO).
By Raymond Baguma
THREE firms from India and Kenya have been awarded contracts by the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U) to run Uganda’s pilot call-centre set up for business process outsourcing (BPO).
NITA-U plans to operationalise the BPO centre by December. The centre will be under incubation for three years, according to the NITA-U executive director James Saaka.
The firms, Dhanush, Raps-Spanco and TechnoBrain, were selected following a competitive bidding process that began in July.
While NITA-U has reached agreement with Dhanush and Raps-Spanco, discussions are in final stages with TechnoBrain.
Saaka said the Government would facilitate the companies with incentives such as subsidised power, Internet bandwidth and free office space during the incubation period.
The companies are expected to employ the 500 youth who recently completed BPO training that was conducted by NITA-U and Makerere University’s College of Computing and Information Sciences.
NITA-U hopes to train more youth this financial year to create a critical mass to be employed by operators.
Saaka said Uganda was still in the early stages of building its BPO industry unlike Kenya.
He noted that the country faces challenges of high costs of electricity, which is also unreliable, shortage of skills, as well as high rental costs.
During a breakfast meeting for BPO operators at the Kampala Serena Hotel on Friday, the ICT minister, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, said Uganda was positioning herself to exploit the opportunities that come with the growing demand for BPO services.
He said the Government had identified ICT as a core strategy to improve the delivery of public services and job creation.
He said the National Fibre-Optic Backbone, which is expected to be completed by December, will facilitate access to high speed internet connectivity in the country.
THREE firms from India and Kenya have been awarded contracts by the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U) to run Uganda’s pilot call-centre set up for business process outsourcing (BPO).
NITA-U plans to operationalise the BPO centre by December. The centre will be under incubation for three years, according to the NITA-U executive director James Saaka.
The firms, Dhanush, Raps-Spanco and TechnoBrain, were selected following a competitive bidding process that began in July.
While NITA-U has reached agreement with Dhanush and Raps-Spanco, discussions are in final stages with TechnoBrain.
Saaka said the Government would facilitate the companies with incentives such as subsidised power, Internet bandwidth and free office space during the incubation period.
The companies are expected to employ the 500 youth who recently completed BPO training that was conducted by NITA-U and Makerere University’s College of Computing and Information Sciences.
NITA-U hopes to train more youth this financial year to create a critical mass to be employed by operators.
Saaka said Uganda was still in the early stages of building its BPO industry unlike Kenya.
He noted that the country faces challenges of high costs of electricity, which is also unreliable, shortage of skills, as well as high rental costs.
During a breakfast meeting for BPO operators at the Kampala Serena Hotel on Friday, the ICT minister, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, said Uganda was positioning herself to exploit the opportunities that come with the growing demand for BPO services.
He said the Government had identified ICT as a core strategy to improve the delivery of public services and job creation.
He said the National Fibre-Optic Backbone, which is expected to be completed by December, will facilitate access to high speed internet connectivity in the country.