India and Kenya- IT sector comparision

There is a broad agreement that several key factors determine competitiveness in IT/BPO:(i)availability of employable skills(including IT skills), (ii) competitive costs,(iii)quality of infrastructure relevant to the IT/BPO industry,and(iv)and overall environment that is conducive to business. Of all these factors, countries can substantially increase their international competetive advantage if they execute smart strategies to increase their skills offering for the industry.

Given these developments, the lack of skills is now the most important binding constraint to the growth of the IT/BPO sector in Kenya. The country currently produces around 30,000 university graduates and about 250,000 graduates from high school annually. However, very few of these graduates, whether at school or university level, are immediately suitable for employment in the IT/BPO industry. According to the recent McKinsey Report (2008), the talent pool for the BPO sector in Kenya currently is very limited. Only about 5,000 graduates are suitable for employment in the industry. The report has projected the skills required for BPO sector to be 70 percent for voice and data operators, 5 percent for managers, 10 percent for engineers and 15 percent for technicians

Source: World Bank, Kenya Economic Update

Related:
Location Readiness Index