Sector players in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) ecosystem have noted that Uganda has the potential to create more than 300,000 jobs for young people through Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO).
But this will depend on the extent of the country's efforts.
During a discussion at NBS SpotlightUg on Wednesday night, Roger Karebi, Chairman of the BPO Association, discussed how Uganda could leverage ICT and noted that if the country progressed, it could still produce 200,000 BPO jobs.
The discussion was on the topic: Future of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO): Embracing an evolving landscape with automation.
BPO refers to the practice of outsourcing specific business functions, such as customer service and data entry, to third-party service providers.
These functions can include customer service, technical support, data entry, and more. BPO has become a crucial component of many businesses, allowing them to focus on their core competencies while outsourcing non-core tasks to specialised service providers.
Due to a higher supply of skilled manpower than demand, Uganda still has an unemployment issue, and Karebi believes this can be solved through BPO.
Karebi noted that the private sector, academia and the government all need to work together to create strict training programs to help change the mindset of graduates to work in the BPO industry.
"It gives us an opportunity for us to be able to come up with very strict training programmes. Training has been one of the solutions to change the mindset of these people towards (technology)," he said.
He explained that the work readiness programme has a lot to do with changing the mindset of the graduates, adding that having a degree alone may not be enough.
"I think BPO is going to thrive more than we expect. The prospects are very high and exciting," he said.
He explained that there is a need to inculcate the culture of work among these young graduates, noting that they are discussing the matter with the private sector foundation to get their support effort to get the graduates ready to work under the BPO environment.
"We have engaged private sector foundation to see us as an association can benefit from this programme to ensure we can produce the right agents or people working in our sector with the right attitude."
Dr. Rebecca Isabella Kiconco, the Vice Chairperson of the BPO and Innovation Council, called for universities to have work readiness programs so that students can learn the soft skills needed for the BPO sector.
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"The BPO sector requires soft skills. We need impersonal skills, you need communication skills, you need a good attitude and proper work ethics. Some of these things are lacking in our students," she said.
She explained the students are lacking these skills because as a country we don't have a system in place within university.
"As government I believe it is important for them to engage but also have these work readiness programmes run together with curriculum at universities. I would like to applaud the government in terms of developing ICT skills. I think right from primary to secondary to university, ICT is now compulsory," she said.
She said ICT skills are the foundation for BPO for now and the future.
"I believe the question of inclusion and diversity has a lot to do with data. We need to know what our capacity is and what we are good at. The BPO sector is a great opportunity. This sector can only develop with the government at the forefront," she said.
