[ti:Uganda Looks to Outsourcing to Creat Jobs]

[ar:June Simms]

[al:Technology Report]

[by:www.geilien.cn]

[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.

[00:06.43]For years, many western companies have sent important business services to India,

[00:12.95]where they can be done at lower cost.

[00:16.68]This is called outsourcing, and it has brought jobs to India.

[00:22.47]Other countries have seen the economic benefit of outsourcing

[00:26.70]and are seeking to copy the Indian model.

[00:30.91]For example, officials in Uganda have opened an outsourcing centre

[00:36.46]to train people in Internet technology.

[00:40.05]Their aim is to create jobs for Ugandans.

[00:44.47]26-year-old Flavia Aliteesa studied information technology in school.

[00:52.62]Today, she is happy to have a job but does not perform high level IT work.

[00:59.57]She says, many of her former classmates have been unemployed for years.

[01:05.35]"First of all, I was given an opportunity to start working,

[01:08.01]otherwise I would have been seated back home doing nothing.

[01:11.05]At least it has given me a sense of independence,

[01:14.00]since I earn and I can do something on my own," said Aliteesa.

[01:17.25]Flavia Aliteesa works for a company called Techno Brain,

[01:23.21]it offers business process outsourcing, or BPO, to foreign companies.

[01:30.31]The Ugandan government hopes more companies like Techno Brain

[01:34.41]will begin operating in the country.

[01:37.21]Uganda supports its small but growing BPO industry

[01:43.11]by giving free office space and Internet service in Kampala.

[01:48.73]The government has trained hundreds of people

[01:51.73]in the skills that BPO companies need, and plans to train thousands more.

[01:58.62]Many people in Eastern Africa speak English,

[02:02.54]and the area is in the same time-zone as Europe.

[02:07.54]So countries there could be good places

[02:10.72]for call centers and data processing.

[02:14.08]And says Rogers Karebi, the head of the Uganda BPO Association,

[02:19.83]labor costs in other countries are growing.

[02:23.48]"Quite a number of firms in India, Asia and the Middle East have stepped up their prices,

[02:30.85]so the cost of outsourcing to the initially indigenous

[02:34.44]BPO destinations is on the rise.

[02:36.34]So, quite a number of firms in the demand markets

[02:40.33]are actually looking for alternative places to outsource to," said Karebi.

[02:44.74]But there are big differences between Uganda and India,

[02:49.59]one of the most important is the cost of Internet service.

[02:54.37]Most experts agreed that the cost of Internet service

[02:58.78]in East Africa would eventually be lowered,

[03:02.13]but even this might not be enough.

[03:05.03]Stephan Manning is an outsourcing expert at the University of Massachusetts.

[03:12.32]He says, East Africa might not have anything special to offer.

[03:17.08]"These services need to be distinct enough so that they don't enter price competition.

[03:23.07]And that's exactly the problem.

[03:25.47]In Kenya, if you provide English-speaking call center operations,

[03:29.89]then you do nothing different than the Filipinos or India,

[03:34.94]and there's no way you can compete on costs," said Manning.

[03:38.54]He says it might be better for African countries

[03:41.89]to offer their services to neighboring countries.

[03:45.46]That way, he says, they would not being competition with Asia.

[03:51.12]And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report.

[03:56.03]I'm June Simms.