From data to growth: Driving Kenya’s outsourcing boom

First, the newly launched Outsourcing Alliance of Kenya (OAK) presented its plans for driving Kenya’s outsourcing boom. OAK serves as a unified hub for Kenya’s global business services, including business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT-enabled services (ITES). It coordinates industry data, policy advocacy and talent to deliver streamlined market-entry and operational support to outsourcing companies.

Creating new opportunities in business process outsourcing

Jonathan Beardsley from Genesis Analytics, a member of OAK, shared that the founding of the new alliance is also a result of a perceived lack of planning from the regulatory side. The companies want the Kenyan government to establish an action plan for scaling the BPO/ITES industry in Kenya.

Currently, over 1 million people work in the business services sector in African countries, mostly in Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and South Africa. The Kenyan market is currently less saturated and provides great opportunities for businesses wanting to outsource.

Membership in OAK is possible for companies that have a minimum of 50 employees. OAK focuses on policy advocacy for its members – for example, advocating for enhanced tax holidays, expedited work permits for qualifying companies and investment in utility and infrastructure that provides a stable ground for technology-intensive work.

Trusted data flows for Kenya’s economic growth

In a second presentation, John Walubengo, Deputy Data Commissioner in charge of compliance at the Kenyan Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC), shared their report on trusted cross-border data flows. You can download the report here.

While a data adequacy decision has not been reached with the EU, Kenya currently has a mature regulatory framework that can match the GDPR requirements, according to Walubengo. By increasing trusted data flows, Kenya could create 23,000 to 412,000 new jobs every year, in sectors such as tourism, BPO and digital work. Overall, ramping up trusted data flows could lead to revenue gains of $1.1 billion to $5.5 billion.

During the Q&A session, companies were particularly interested in the timeframe of the adequacy decision. The ODPC shared that the Kenya-EU adequacy decision has been in the making for 1.5 years and that a decision is expected within the next six months.

Bridging the gap

In the meantime, the Secretariat for the Kenyan-German Digital Dialogue will host a webinar exploring practical ways to ensure secure cross-border data flows while the adequacy decision is still pending. If you are interested in the webinar or in contributing to the working group, please reach out to digital-dialogues@giz.de.