At current, Bindaas Social Ventures is focused on establishing the Kenya People’s Contact Center in Nairobi to promote economic development through job creation and matriculation of successful program participants to private sector employment opportunities.  BSV is different in that our target population is identified as the most difficult to serve.  While we will offer assistance to capable individuals from any background within the marginalized communities we will strive to serve the most difficult cases which include:

  • Single Mothers
  • Disabled and HIV+ Men & Women
  • Youth who have not passed Form 4 education levels

We believe that this group of individuals are left out of the current solutions being offered by existing aid organizations (in ICT/BPO development) and there is no reason that without the social support of existing NGOs working in collaboration that we would not be able to facilitate their individual success.

The Kenya People’s Contact Center

  • BSV will create a sustainable model of job readiness and employment opportunities by implementing a digital work facility that will support ICT jobs from international contracts for services provided.
  • BSV will create community centered digital work facilities and support service to train program participants. 

KPCC Customer Base

  • As a charitable organization, the majority of our activities will be directed toward the social services and support of the targeted population.  The design of BSV will enable the trained workers to matriculate from our subsidized facility to better paying private sector jobs within the same industry.
  • As a business concern, the work offered via the employment facility will be to provide digital services to for-profit businesses located in East Africa, greater Europe, the US and Canada. Customers of the facility will vary from publishers and web orientated content sites to nongovernmental organizations such as development agencies and universities and government agencies.

Why Nairobi?

We chose Nairobi for a few reasons that are more simplistic at first.  Since the founder had previously volunteered in Nairobi and as a result had developed a number of meaningful relationships with potential partner organizations and, also, was comfortable working and living in Nairobi.  Though it became apparent that Nairobi is a great place to develop this model with the international attention and proliferation of aid organizations working there.
Additionally, we could have started our work in the marginalized communities of Delhi, Manila, or even Oakland but Kenya has Business Process Outsourcing highlighted as one of six priorities for its national 2030 goals.

“BPO is a new and promising sector with a significant niche opportunity for Kenya. It is currently a small and nascent industry with less than one thousand seats in total (2008 data). Assessment of this industry indicated that it is cost competitive in Kenya relative to other attractive destinations. However, there are  key related  areas requiring improvement. These include telecommunications cost, energy cost and reliability, and training of workers for the sector.

The vision for the sector is to be “The top BPO destination in Africa”. The goal for 2012 is to create at least 7,500 direct BPO jobs with an additional GDP contribution of Ksh 10 billion. This could be achieved by (i) Attracting at least 5 major leading IT suppliers (ii) Attracting at least 10 large  multinational corporation  captives and/or global BPO players, and (iii) Targeting at least 5 large local players to develop as local champions through standalone operations or joint ventures.”

With the increased attention and government determination and backing to grow this sector we believe the number of jobs created in general by privately owned competitive digital outsourcing facilities will explode.  As such, we believe that the college educated, middle class youth currently occupying these roles will begin to advance in their careers more rapidly and shift to leadership roles and to more complex work that will be redirected to Nairobi from the Philippines, India and other global outsourcing hotspots as firms gain experience.

The entry level work that is ideal for new entrants to the market will also increase as new firms and existing firms grow to fill the need created by the increased exposure resulting from international marketing of Nairobi as a reliable place to obtain off shore services.  The growth in the industry will create opportunities for many and the ability to absorb developed and trained workers from our programs will be enhanced as a result.