Viewpoints | Jun 04,2022
Jul 20 , 2019
By Haben Mehari
Former President George W. Bush, in his autobiography Decision Points, describes an encounter with the then leader of China, Hu Jintao, while they were in office. Bush asked Hu Jintao what he often asked world leaders: “What keeps you up at night?”
Hu Jintao responded that what kept him awake was creating 25 million jobs a year to feed the beast that is China’s modernising economy.
I am pretty sure that this is what keeps the government and our Prime Minister awake as well. Last week most of our universities around the country graduated more than a hundred thousand graduates.
The government is in some ways trying to help alleviate the problem. This can been seen in the allocation of revolving funds and universities' active role in helping their graduates land a job. But the jury is still out about the success of these initiatives.
On the other hand, the government is also going in the opposite direction. There was a time when paying for utility bills was such a hustle and used to take more than a day. Kifya came along and launched “Lehulu”, a public-private partnership that helped facilitate utility bill payments. Now, this contract is being cancelled and moved to the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. In the midst of this change, the dreaded queues have returned. One of the semi-successful local business outsourcing programmes is back in government hands.
Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the contracting of a business task to a third-party service provider. This is as old as business itself. Businesses have outsourced their distribution or marketing to third parties for centuries. The focus in BPO is on reducing transaction costs, optimising process efficiency and providing size and scale to handle a large volume of customers.
Globalization has turned BPO into a universal phenomenon. The global market size of outsourced services in 2018 was 85.6 billion dollars. India has won its spurs as the world’s outsourcing destination of choice. Currently, the country has a commanding share of the global outsourcing market. The outsourcing industry in the Philippines contributes to 10pc of the country’s economy and creates hundreds of thousands to millions of jobs every year. Knowledge process outsourcing is 34pc of the outsourcing industry in the Philippines. This makes the Philippines one of the top choices for higher-value services like animation, content production and legal and financial services.
Many of the traditional outsourcing destinations such as India and the Philippines are moving to areas like information technology-enabled services. This includes software development, content development and IT research and development. This presents a great opportunity for us to enter the now relatively open lower end of the BPO sector and begin building into more advanced services over time.
Whenever one talks about BPO to Ethiopia, the primary concern is for the language barrier. English is not our first language; therefore, we might struggle to break into the call center BPO industry, but this is just one part of this huge industry.
The startup scene in Ethiopia is flourishing. Recently, the Ministry of Technology & Innovation is paying special attention to harnessing the skills of our young people in the technology sector. With an ambition of making Ethiopia a “Land of Startups”, Startup Ethiopia was launched just this month. This is a step in the right direction.
Ethiopia, within this global economy, has to carve a niche for itself. Instead of taking back outsourcing work, the Ethiopian government must provide other local outsourcing services. This has two advantages. First, it creates job opportunities for the young graduates that desperately need them. Second it helps local companies build the experience and discipline that the international market requires. Digitizing has other benefits like building greater domestic efficiencies and minimising corruption. When the Kenyan government decided to automate the banking section of their Ministry of Lands, the revenues jumped from Ksh 800 million to Ksh 9 billion within a six-month period.
Through policy and regulatory frameworks that encourage entrepreneurs, we can increase efficiency, build globally competitive firms and create employment opportunities for our graduates - a win-win situation for all.
PUBLISHED ON
Jul 20,2019 [ VOL
20 , NO
1003]
Viewpoints | Jun 04,2022
Sunday with Eden | Oct 16,2020
Commentaries | Jan 16,2021
Radar | Aug 08,2020
Radar | Apr 30,2024
Editorial | Mar 27,2021
Radar | May 25,2019
Sunday with Eden | Jan 16,2021
Featured | Apr 30,2021
Fortune News | Feb 06,2024
Photo Gallery | 98467 Views | May 06,2019
Photo Gallery | 90694 Views | Apr 26,2019
My Opinion | 73027 Views | Aug 14,2021
My Opinion | 69310 Views | Aug 21,2021
Commentaries | May 11,2024
Editorial | May 11,2024
Feb 24 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
Abel Yeshitila, a real estate developer with a 12-year track record, finds himself unable to sell homes in his latest venture. Despite slash...
Feb 10 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
In his last week's address to Parliament, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) painted a picture of an economy...
Jan 7 , 2024
In the realm of international finance and diplomacy, few cities hold the distinction that Addis Abeba doe...
Sep 30 , 2023 . By AKSAH ITALO
On a chilly morning outside Ke'Geberew Market, Yeshi Chane, a 35-year-old mother cradling her seven-month-old baby, stands amidst the throng...
May 11 , 2024
The ruling Prosperity Party - the Prosperitians - has its leaders turned to the Publi...
May 2 , 2024
For successive generations of Ethiopia's tax authorities, the chore of tax collection...
Apr 27 , 2024
The Prosperity Party (PP) - Prosperitians - is charting a course through treacherous...
Apr 20 , 2024
In a departure from its traditionally opaque practices, the National Bank of Ethiopia...
May 11 , 2024 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
Officials of the Addis Abeba City Administration are advancing a series of ambitious...
May 11 , 2024 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
A downturn in demand from the cement manufacturing sector has resulted in an unforeseen surplus of coal in Oromia Re...
May 11 , 2024 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
Ethiopia's parliament established an 18-member think tank focused on addressing the construction industry woes. Under the leadership of...
May 15 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Manufacturers of biscuits, noodles, and animal feed are sounding the alarm, urging policymakers to interv...