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FG seeks guidelines, polices to develop outsourcing business

By Gloria Ehiaghe
15 June 2017   |   4:25 am
Practitioners of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) have been advised to embrace proper guidelines and policies that would regulate the players and open up the sector for more business activities.

PHOTO: Jumia travel

Practitioners of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) have been advised to embrace proper guidelines and policies that would regulate the players and open up the sector for more business activities.

If properly harnessed, the industry has the potential to grow the nation’s economy by more than 10 per cent with the creation of an estimated one million jobs.

Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, who made the assertions at the sixth edition of the Association of Outsourcing Professionals of Nigeria (AOPN) 2017 expo in Lagos, said the conference became necessary following the country’s economic recovery drive.

Speaking on the theme: “Setting Global Standards for Outsourcing in Nigeria,” Shittu said: “Setting global standards for any activity involves the provision of level playing field through a very focused policy, regulation and legal frameworks, which are developed through elaborate consultations with all stakeholders and factoring in ‘global best practices’ to guide outsourcing activities.”

For a sustainable development of BPO market in Nigeria, he charged the participants to come up with a blueprint strategy document for launching, reiterating government’s support for the improvement of the industry.

“It is expected that as soon as the blueprint is approved, e-Governance activities would commence and business outsourcing opportunities would begin to emerge,” he added.

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in collaboration with the former Ministry of Communication Technology had established a $8.56 million project on “Capacity Building of e-Government in Nigeria,” aimed at propelling e-Government in the country.

Also to harness outsourcing potential the Chief Executive Officer of Advantage Projects, Helen Emore, noted that unless he practitioners come up with innovations, the sector would remain dormant, adding: “Innovation will stand the sector out.

She charged the forum to begin a working out exclusive outsourcing businesses through innovations, saying:
“There are so many opportunities. Let’s start innovating, that is when the industry will grow.”

The Global World Index had revealed that India, China and Malaysia were the top three countries in the outsourcing business, which they achieved through financial attractiveness, skills availability and friendly business environment.

Checks however, showed that India controls 50 per cent of global outsourcing companies with an industry with potential to attract over $300 million by 2020.

The country has highly educated workforce with over 200,000 fresh recruits annually with a predictable business and economic environment, as well as a robust alignment between government and the industry on the ease of doing business.

However, the Group Managing Director of Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc, Wole Oshin said Nigeria must position herself strategically by taking deliberate and conscious steps to address some of critical issues militating the sector.

The issues, he noted include: infrastructure cost, power, transportation, skills availability, competence and expertise, economic and political will, among others.

Also, the General Manager, Marketing, MTN, Kolawole Oyeyemi stressed the need to eliminate quacks from the system to tackle the issue of outpricing.

He argued that outpricing leads to compromising values and that applying local content should be paramount to enable Nigerians compete favourably in the international market.

Meanwhile, speaking these at the expo, the Managing Partner, AEC Legal, Anu Eso disclosed that before contracting outsourcing business, there should be room for negotiations and the terms of contract must be clearly stated to avoid court cases in future.

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