They should hire an Indian guy to do the marketing
Company Hopes to Take Outsourcing to a New Level: Africa
By Mary Ellen Slayter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 29, 2004; Page E05
Many large companies have reaped the economic benefits of outsourcing in recent years. Karim Morsli is trying to make money bringing those same advantages to small and medium-sized businesses -- while also spurring economic growth in Africa.
His company, Rising Data Solutions, opened the first outsource call center in Ghana, a West African nation of about 20 million people. The company circumvents the country's limited telephone infrastructure by relying on voice-over-Internet protocol.
"Outsourcing is here to stay. Period," said Morsli, the Gaithersburg company's chief information officer. "But we give people an option to India."
Morsli said Ghana's low cost of living, stable democratic government and literate, English-speaking population make it well-suited as an outsourcing location. He said his company can provide call-center outsourcing for 25 to 30 percent less than what it would cost in India.
Despite those advantages, Morsli said, Ghana has not been an easy sell to the business community. Most of what people hear about Africa is negative, he said, "definitely not news to entice investment."
It wasn't even an easy sell to the Ghanaian government, which has resisted phone service over the Internet as a threat to the state-run telephone company, Morsli said. Rising Data eventually persuaded the Ministry of Communications and Technology to grant it a license to use the technology, which is generally banned.
