THE POTENTIAL FOR PARTNERSHIPS IN SITA:

THE EXPERIENCE OF ONE AFRICAN COMPANY

“I was impressed by the energy and enthusiasm from the Indian companies I met. It is clear that India has a lead in ICT fields, and I saw many advanced technologies on display and met with companies who are equally advanced.

The Indian firms were keen to learn more about the African experience in mobile technologies and how we have built innovative applications that work in the local market.”

“I am now excited to take part in the other capacity building activities that will take place under SITA project”

Kevin Bajeneza, DirectorN@tcom, Oct 2015

SITASuPPORTINg INdIAN TRAdE ANd INvESTMENT FOR AFRICA

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact person: James Howe, Task Team Leader ITES-BPO

Tel: +41-22-730.0645

E-mail: howe@intracen.org

Contact person: Carolin Averbeck, SITA- Consultant ITES-BPO, CTA

Tel: + 254708281299

E-mail: averbeck@intracen.org

Follow us on Twitter: @ITC_SITA

Read our blog the voices of SITA: http://www.voicesofsita.com

ITES-BPO

India’s leading ICT industry association, NASSCOM organ-ised its first ‘Indo-Africa ICT Expo’ in Nairobi in September 2015. For SITA this was the perfect opportunity to link companies from East Africa, and in particular Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda with potential partners from India. Over the two days of conference and exhibition, the SITA project team managed a series of business meetings. Over 160 scheduled meetings were organized and many other informal exchanges facilitated.

Among the East African entrepreneurs that built con-nections with Indian companies, Ms. Kevine BAJENEZA from N@tcom concluded a number of agreements. N@tcom is now in a partnership with an Indian It company JD software.

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About ITC

ITC is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. ITC’s mission is to foster inclusive and sustainable economic development, and contribute to achieving the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development. ITC works towards creating ‘trade impact for good’.

About DFID

The Department for International Development ( DFID ) leads the Government of the United Kingdom’s efforts to fight global poverty, deliver the Global Goals, and tackle global challenges. Promoting economic development and prosperity in the developing world is a key priority for DFID, and includes the creation of sustainable jobs and livelihoods, in particular for women and young people. DFID operates under the International Development Act, which came into force in 2002 and establishes the legal basis for United Kingdom’s development assistance.

SITA ITES TENTATIvE ACTIvITIES IN YEAR 2

Internships in India: SITA is facilitating internships for students from 3 East African countries studying in India with placements at a number of Indian business partners. The goal is to encourage greater opportunities for applied learning in India for students of African origin.

Facilitated attendance at Buyer – Seller meetings: NASSCOM’s Indo-Africa EXPO 2015 proved to be a very successful event for the participating East African companies. A similar event will take place in September 2016 and selected companies will be supported to participate and meet with potential business partners. SITA will also facilitate participation of women owned companies to women vendors event WVEF 2016 in Istanbul.

Marketing and branding support: Organise a marketing workshop for Rwandan companies, to provide coaching to IT companies on building their brand, marketing and sales materials and preparing for business to business matchmaking. ITC’s Marketing team will review and advise selected enterprises how to improve their marketing, and where necessary develop improved materials.

Pilot –Training courses on ‘High Demand Skills’: In Q1 2016 Kenyan SMEs were surveyed to understand the demand for specifi c types of skills. As a next step, SITA will facilitate the training of talented young graduates on the high demand skills.

Milestones to date

Consultation meetings with over 30 delegates from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda in Kigali, May 2015

Needs assessment completed with Rwandan IT companies, May 15

Facilitated over 160 B2B matchmaking meetings between East African and Indian companies at Indo-Africa ICT Expo, Nairobi, Sep 15

Investment profi es for ITES sector in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania developed.

SITA IN THE IT ENABLEd PROduCTS

ANd SERvICES & BPO SECTOR ( ITES-BPO )

ITES-BPO is one of the key sectors for SITA in three countries: Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Each of the governments in these countries has prioritised the development of a vibrant IT service sector, and is investing in infrastructure, skills and capacity in order to build competitiveness of the sector and leverage improved access to digital tools and services for broader socio-economic development.

ITES-BPO is the fastest-growing sector of the Indian economy. According to the Indian IT Association NASSCOM, IT enabled Business Process Management ( BPM ) is estimated to have generated up to $ 150 billion for the Indian economy in 2015. Linking with the highly successful Indian ITES sector offers great potential to businesses from East Africa in several ways: the potential to learn from best practices, acquire specifi c expertise that could complement the nascent sector in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda and seek partnerships for commercial projects and investment from India.

SITA aims to explore and develop the different ways in which India and Africa could work together in the ITES-BPO sector for their mutual benefi t, and in particular to boost the growth of the sector in Africa.

INDO-AFRICA INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME

The lack of suffi ciently experienced local talent has been identifi ed as a key barrier to growth for the sector in Africa; participants believe that increasing the number of internships in India could offer part of the solution.

Many African students are already enrolled at Indian Universities in relevant technical and business disciplines. However, many lack the opportunity to have cutting-edge industry experience that would be valuable in Africa. Increasingly Indian companies with current and future operations in Africa also wish to expand their access to appropriately experienced graduates.

In 2016, SITA will launch an internship program benefi ting students from the three countries currently enrolled at Indian universities. SITA will partner with Indian ICT enterprises to provide high potential students with a 3-6 month internships on assignments that would be relevant to the African context.

SITA AT A GLANCE

Donor: Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland through the Department for International Development ( DFID )

TIME-Frame: 2014-2020

Design Phase Implementation Phase

March 2014 April 2015 March 2020

Country Coverage: India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania

Benefi ciaries:

East African businesses

Indian companies importing from or investing in Africa

National and regional trade and investment support institutions ( TISIs )

Objective: Increased value of business transactions between India and selected East African countries by creating productive capacities, enhancing incomes, and promoting investment.

Strategy: The objective will be achieved by enabling access to markets in India and other countries, and by facilitating partnerships including investment and transfer of knowledge, expertise and technology from India to East Africa by:

Promoting public-private dialogue and partnerships;

Improving capacities of East African companies and TSIs; and

Creating business linkages.

Expected results:

Greater export fl ows from East Africa to international markets

Enhanced competitiveness of East African businesses

Increased investments, knowledge and technology transfer from India to East Africa

Improved business-development services provided by regional and national Trade Investment Support Institutions ( TSI’s )

Improved business environment fostered through public-private dialogue and partnerships

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