First came the report that Nairobi based call center Kencall, which employs more than 600 agents, is closing down. It is believed that high operating costs and gloomy international business scenario are the reasons behind this closure.
Later, CEO of the company, Nicholas Nesbitt told media persons that the news is false, Kencall is going strong and has big plans for future etc etc.
Smoke does not occur without fire. Mr. CEO can do the damage control now, but he can not deny the fact that not once, but twice, KenCall sacked almost all of its agents to start afresh.
KenCall, supposedly Kenya’s first international call center got good media mention from New York Times and other media when it started its operations:
Although just a tiny entrant in the call-center market, KenCall has enough clients to keep 200 telephone operators busy. Some of the Kenyan sales agents dial up Britons
and urge them to save money on their cellular phones. Others dial up Americans and ask if they are interested in refinancing their home mortgages. Without knowing it, some Americans even dial up Kenya, responding to advertisements offering low-income grants or job assistance.
After looking on for years as Asia cashed in on the outsourcing boom, Africa is now aggressively seeking its piece of the action
But no one can deny the abysmal telecommunication system that prevails in Kenya. I don’t have exact report with me, but as far as I know the broadband rates in Kenya is one of the highest in the world. Kenya's dependence on satellite links to transmit calls has made it a very expensive venture for call centres. There were some talks of laying fibre optic telecom links, I don’t know if that has been implemented or not.
Source: ITExaminer
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