Nairobi, Kenya, July 19 – Business process outsourcing (BPO) company Sama welcomed the government’s efforts to support the sector.
State Department of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Digital Economy Chief Secretary John Tanui said yesterday that the state will remove operational barriers currently facing BPO stakeholders.
Sama Global CEO Wendy Gonzalez agreed that recent legal events have had a chilling effect on the growth of Kenya’s BPO sector.
He added that the country could lose more than 2,500 jobs the company plans to provide for Kenyans as part of its growth plans this year.
“Sama is a global organization that currently employs more than 3,500 Kenyans and plans to increase this number by 2,500 by next year,” Tanui said after touring the Sama operating base in Nairobi.
“I have heard their concerns and can confirm that the government will be relentless in addressing operational issues that affect Kenya’s competitiveness in the global market,” he added.
“The government is fully committed to securing these 2,500 jobs through Sama as it rushes to develop the policies and regulations necessary to accelerate the growth of companies in the BPO sector.”
Gonzalez and Sama’s Vice President of Global Delivery Annepees Alwala welcome the government’s assurances that BPO will address its operational challenges as it seeks growth and continues its long track record of growth in Kenya bottom.
Gonzalez said the global BPO market is estimated at over $262 billion, with African countries continuing to emerge as the next BPO growth frontier.
She shared that the BPO sector is important in developing artificial intelligence (AI) systems that power the automotive, retail, agricultural and food technology sectors.
“Business actors are investing heavily in AI, with investments estimated to exceed US$2 trillion by 2030. It’s a growth line for players in the BPO sector because it needs a lot of support,” said Gonzalez.
“Sama has been in Kenya for the past 15 years, providing value chain AI solutions for self-driving cars, virtual reality gaming machines, fashion segmentation, agricultural solutions to prevent crop diseases, and providing quality education to Kenyans. We continue to offer high formal jobs.”
Recently, Sama announced the launch of Platform 2.0, a computer vision platform redesigned to reduce the risk of machine learning (ML) algorithm failures.
