Kenya’s local business process outsourcing (BPO) firms are no longer at ease, as inadequate international contracts have seen local firms turn to the East African market to survive.

The outsourcing firms, which have hinged their growth on contracts from the United States and Britain, are reviewing their business plans, and are eyeing contracts from the Kenyan government, local telecommunication firms and banking industries.

Competition for international jobs from renowned countries in the BPO map such as India and Philippines, together with cost-cutting plans in Europe and US and the politics in the western capitals to bring jobs home, has complicated matters for the Kenyan firms.

Paul Kukubo, the chief executive of Kenya’s ICT board, has said at a BPO conference in Nairobi that the country used to have nearly 40 BPO firms, but that this number has shrunk to nine.

He further added that the majority of active BPOs are struggling to break even, amid rising operational costs, and shrinking opportunities for contracts.

“We currently have nine business process outsourcing firms, with (the) majority of firms that didn’t have a clear business strategy having closed shop,” Mr Kukubo said.

As a result, the Kenya ICT board— which is responsible for marketing Kenya as BPO hot spot — is focusing on more specialised services, such as software development, animation and gaming to woo investors.

The bulk of outsourcing work in Kenya thus far has been digitisation and call centre facilities, which is the domain of India and Philippines.

“We will not replicate India,” said Kukubo.