Is Kenya the next outsourcing hub? | Hacker News Reader

Is Kenya the next outsourcing hub?

bbc.co.uk

44 pointspoissonpie21 comments

I hope so. All of the Kenyans I've met (all in the west, I admit) have been very upbeat individuals with excellent command of English (and they say this is reasonably standard in Kenya) as it's an official language there. Those undersea cables could prove to be life-changers for people with ambition in Nairobi and I'd love to work with them sometime.

There are good Kenyans and Bad Kenyans, Upbeat Kenyans and downcast Kenyans, English speaking Kenyans and non-English speaking Kenyans...I could go on , but I think you get my point. You simply can't fit an entire nation into one box, no matter if its positive or negative.

Of course, but I think the averages of these are germane to this discussion e.g. I don't think Russia is the next outsourcing hub, but there are undoubtedly nice Russians and English speaking Russians who can't fit with other Russians in one box.

The main reason Russia is not the next outsourcing hub is because it's too expensive country already.

And you still think there is one box you can fit most Russians ("other Russians") into.

Is it not a major outsourcing hub already? There are hundreds (well, I might be overestimating it a bit) of companies there. 2 out of 5 top Google search results for "software outsourcing" are Russian companies.

I think the term "offshore development" is more appropriate. "Outsourcing" is too well tied to "cutting costs".

It's a slippery slope to generalize and I acknowledge that but, nonetheless, there are characteristics that are based around demographic similarities. As an Englishman I know that, in the main, there are certain English characteristics that stand out in comparison to other national groups, if only thanks to consuming a lot of the same media and dealing with the same types of bureaucracy and institutions.

Nonetheless, no-one ever agrees on this topic, so my best defence is that I was clearly making an observation of the Kenyans I have met. Naturally, that doesn't mean every Kenyan is the same.

Sure you can.

Americans are usually more ambitious than Italians.

Kenyans are usually more upbeat than Bolivians.

Spaniards usually spend more time with family than Brits.

"Instead, he says, firms and government should look at the kinds of graduates that are coming out of the country's universities and offer services based on their skills."

Speaking as a Kenyan software developer, this is a better approach than "the next outsourcing destination". A lot is going on in the mobile app scene, it would be great if more investors focused on that.

I(kenyan, developer) thought the same thing when i read it. Why would do we want to go in a business that India's already milked the world? We can find a better use for the broadband, and i would love to see more programmers, more hackers, not them "IT zombies" who have degrees in IT/Computing. Let's do outsourcing but not call centres. The problem is the guys running the IT Policies are out of touch with what is happening(Attending Int'l Conferences instead of reaching out to students and young people). Mobile developing is rising, but not in a healthy way.The software buying(app buying in this case) culture is still too low.

Do you guys see much of a community of tech in Kenya? are there adhoc events like barcamp and other meetups going on? Any preferred development language? What do you see as hindering individuals from freelancing for foreign countries or making products that they sell overseas?

I am super fascinated by tech development in emerging economies.

>Do you guys see much of a community of tech in Kenya?

There are spaces like the iHub(ihub.co.ke) in Nairobi, and other mobile-dedicated 'labs'. They organise conferences, meetups and barcamps. Not much in other cities/towns(like where i am).We could do better.

>Any preferred development language? Not really, but you'll get a lot of java,some PHP, less python, even less ruby(just me and some other guy:)).

>What do you see as hindering individuals from freelancing for foreign countries or making products that they sell overseas? Get-job-in-nonprofit mentality and an education system that's not really entrepreneur-friendly.

Hey I'd love to pick your brain about Kenya if you are up for it.

On twitter @sadq70. Same handle for gmail.

The general tendency has been for an initial focus on outsourcing, followed by native businesses. This is what happened in Ireland; in the 90s we had lots of outsourcing, branches of multinationals, etc.; later we built our own software industry (though most software work in Ireland is still multinational).

Some of the people who work in Call Centres here in India end up ruining their health due to the time difference between India and the US. They have to work through the night, and gradually develop a variety of disorders. Since a similar time difference exists in the case of Kenya, some call center employees might start facing such health issues.

More jobs are great. But the long terms costs need to be considered. I worry for the youth of Kenya.

Since a similar time difference exists in the case of Kenya

There is a time difference between US & Kenya, but Kenya is almost on the same timezone as Europe.

Yeah, and it's 3 hours lessened in any case. The ET workday would be 4pm-midnight in Kenya. More natural than the 7pm-3am run in India, in any case.

True. But a large part of the demand is likely to come from the US. Demand from Europe is likely to be limited since the proportion of English speakers there is less.

I imagine that working in a call center at night is safer than working in a coal mine or many heavy industries. Plus probably pays better.

Good luck to the Kenyans, although the really bullish trend for Africa is their heavy use of mobile.

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