

Is Kenya the next outsourcing hub? - poissonpie
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12004815

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petercooper
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.

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nanijoe
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.

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danteembermage
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.

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guard-of-terra
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.

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maxray
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.

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

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krmboya
"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.

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sadlyNess
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.

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brianbreslin
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.

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sadlyNess
>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.

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

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sadlyNess
On twitter @sadq70. Same handle for gmail.

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kaze
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.

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rmc
_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.

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petercooper
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.

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

