Africa a call center alternative to India?

ET reports ""Is there any possibility of having call centers in Africa, in your opinion?" asked Congressman Donald Payne, at the joint hearing convened by Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

"I don't know whether that has been explored," said Karen Tandy, senior vice president, public affairs and communications, Motorola.

"However, it makes sense that it is certainly possible in Africa," she said.

"There are a tremendous number of entrepreneurs springing up throughout the continent that we are also investing and giving grant money to and technology, so there is no reason why a call center couldn't be part of the future in Africa," Tandy said.

"I would echo that," observed Greg Lebedev, adviser to the president US Chamber of Commerce and Chairman, Center for International Private Enterprise. Africa has a wonder resource of English language speakers, he added.
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Africa the next Hot destination !

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Permalink Reply by Toby Paul Brown on July 2, 2009 at 3:42pm

Call centres are possible in Africa and are actually already there and doing well. We are working with a great example in Kenya, KenCall.

KenCall has been offering world-class contact centre services to companies worldwide for over four years now. And Kenya is set to fly once fibre optic cables land in the country later this year. One of the country's key benefits is its neutral accent and very strong English skills.

There is also a lot of talk from other African countries such as Egypt.

We should be hearing a lot more from the continent in the not-too-distant future.

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Permalink Reply by Rajat Verma on July 2, 2009 at 7:30pm

Interesting ! Technology is making unimaginable possibilities. i am sure countries like Egypt or Kenya are offering the cost advantage better than India, but i guess it would take some time for the comfort factor to develop.

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Permalink Reply by Rajat Verma on July 3, 2009 at 4:44pm

Hi Toby , Not sure what made you repeat your comment ! Anyways , you don't have to repeat yourself, I trust you when you say that call centers are possible in AFRICA.

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Permalink Reply by Toby Paul Brown on July 3, 2009 at 9:03pm

Hi Rajat,

Sorry about that, some reason the reply didn't appear so I re-posted. You're right about the comfort factor - I think once a couple of new Kenyan contact centres follow KenCall's sterling example and start to show some global presence, many more global companies will be prepared to look at the country as a much more viable option.

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