After observing the growth of the Indian and Filipino Business Processing Outsourcing sectors, Kenyan policy-makers and managers made substantial investments in international internet... Show moreAfter observing the growth of the Indian and Filipino Business Processing Outsourcing sectors, Kenyan policy-makers and managers made substantial investments in international internet infrastructure and BPO marketing campaigns. While observers continue to discuss the sector in terms of its international work opportunities, in recent years the sector has increasingly focused on contracts sourced from Kenyan and other East African clients. The government has also refocused efforts on attracting international BPO companies. This domestic turn signals both the difficulties of gaining access to overseas work due to the power of incumbents and the increasing use of the internet and ICT-enabled automation within Kenyan organizations. In effect, better connectivity has enabled a two-way globalisation of services: Kenyan BPO companies have been able to access some international work opportunities but the connectivity has also contributed to the inflow of international service companies and business practices into Kenya.The conclusion examines what these shifts might entail for the sector and its workers in future [pre-publication draft]. Show less
This paper analyses and compares two transformative moments of technologically mediated change in East Africa, the construction of the Uganda railway between Mombasa and Lake Victoria (1896-1903)... Show moreThis paper analyses and compares two transformative moments of technologically mediated change in East Africa, the construction of the Uganda railway between Mombasa and Lake Victoria (1896-1903) and the introduction of fibre-optic cables that landed into the ports of Dar Es Salaam and Mombasa in 2009. The paper uses discourse analysis to examine how technologically mediated connectivity has been represented by political and economic actors during these transformative moments. In both cases we explore the origins of the expectations of connectivity and the hope and fear associated with them. Building on Massey's notion of power-geometry and Sheppard's concept of positionality, the paper focuses on power relationships in discussions of connectivity and asks how people understand the abilities of transformative technologies to modify positionalities and alter relational distance and proximity. Ultimately, by examining historical and contemporary expectations of connectivity in East Africa, this paper works towards more grounded and historicised understandings of the coming-together of technology and connectivity. Show less
This paper looks in detail at the social and economic background of mobile airtime sellers on the streets of Kigali. While informal networks have proved to be an invaluable resource for large... Show moreThis paper looks in detail at the social and economic background of mobile airtime sellers on the streets of Kigali. While informal networks have proved to be an invaluable resource for large multinational telecommunication companies seeking to penetrate African markets, changing technological capabilities may soon displace them. As Rwanda develops its Internet and payment systems, companies and institutions hope to provide airtime and services directly. The paper draws on interviews with airtime sellers in three neighbourhoods of Kigali to ask what this temporary source of employment has done to their long-term career prospects. While the Rwandan government information and communication technology (ICT) strategy has hereto focused on high-end ICT and business process outsourcing, this paper uses the experiences of airtime sellers to advocate for a more bottom-up approach to entrepreneurship and economic development in Rwanda. We stress that planners and researchers need to think more critically about value chains at the bottom of the pyramid, not just in terms of how informal networks can be used as temporary appendages to further the reach of formal multinational corporations, but how these new kinds of chains and networks can be re-engineered to provide permanent and sustainable livelihoods to workers and business owners at the base of the economy. Show less
By tracking the changing nature of wasta, or personal intermediation, in the Khartoum labour market, this paper examines the impact of Islamist policies on state-society relations in Khartoum,... Show moreBy tracking the changing nature of wasta, or personal intermediation, in the Khartoum labour market, this paper examines the impact of Islamist policies on state-society relations in Khartoum, Sudan. It argues that economic liberalisation and higher education expansion weakened sectarian control over the economy, replacing the former institutionalised system of privilege with a much more decentralised, private and transnational structure. The conclusion asks whether these policies have laid the groundwork for long-term political transformation. While education expansion and liberalisation should theoretically allow a regime to broaden patronage networks, they may also reduce the capacity of both the regime and the private sector to exercise power and establish predictability outwards. Show less
Internet connectivity is widely considered to be a game changer for knowledge economies of developing countries. The arrival of submarine fibre-optic underwater cables in East Africa in 2009 and... Show moreInternet connectivity is widely considered to be a game changer for knowledge economies of developing countries. The arrival of submarine fibre-optic underwater cables in East Africa in 2009 and 2010 is seen by many as a strong case in point. The fast evolution of the information and communication technology (ICT) landscape of Kenya and Rwanda that ensued has attracted the attention of actors from private investors, development agencies, NGOs, policymakers and many other groups. Kenya became a role model for its widespread adoption of mobile money services and a burgeoning ICT application development sector; Rwanda's government became known for its explicitly ICT-oriented development agenda as well as large-scale ICT projects in government, health and education that aimed to latch onto fast-growing mobile subscription rates and 3G network roll-outs. For this report, we set out to examine the role that changing connectivity has played for a particular component of the ICT sector in Kenya and Rwanda: ICT-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO).1 BPO has been a priority in the national ICT strategies of both countries, so we anticipated this sector to provide a fertile ground for comparing expectations and realities of the role that changing connectivity has played following the deployment of fibre-optic cable infrastructure. The study outlined how policy, popular discourse and media got somewhat carried away by the promise of internet connectivity as the fuel for the growth of Kenya's and Rwanda's BPO sectors. The development of ICT sectors fell short of many original hopes. Internet connectivity proved to only function as a catalyst for economic growth in combination with other enablers, even for the examined sectors of connectivity-based enterprises. Competitive advantage is always relative, and, in the case of Kenya's and Rwanda's BPO sectors, India and other Asian BPO destinations have maintained the edge in international markets. Despite the overall positive evolution of ICT-based subsectors in Kenya and Rwanda, the role of internet connectivity for growth in knowledge economies continues to be a complicated one, including for connectivity-based enterprises. Future opportunities might actually lie in 'close' (local and regional) markets, and policymakers and indeed all economic actors will need to continue to learn and adjust to other unexpected developments brought about by internet connectivity. Show less
This is a paper about expectations surrounding a potentially highly transformative moment in East Africa's history: the arrival of underwater fibre-optic broadband communications cables into the... Show moreThis is a paper about expectations surrounding a potentially highly transformative moment in East Africa's history: the arrival of underwater fibre-optic broadband communications cables into the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa. It combines a media content analysis with findings from interviews with business owners in Kenya's nascent business process outsourcing (BPO) and software development sectors in order to explore how such moments of technological 'connectivity' are imagined, marketed and enacted within economic development. It argues that connectivity is not just a matter of boosting physical/material capacity but also about redressing conceptual connectivity; bringing places 'closer together' involves rehabilitating the images of places in peoples' minds and removing imagined senses of distance. As such, technologies of connectivity are marketed not just as tools of altered communications affordances, but more importantly, as momentary opportunities for revisiting the image of places from afar. Additionally, the cables reveal the importance of fostering internal linkages in order to better build international recognition and connections. 'Moments of expectation' that surround new ICT technologies reveal how discourse and representation play a strong role in enabling markets to form and change. The very idea of 'connectivity' itself is driving plans and policies throughout the region. Show less
