Uganda Looks to Outsourcing to Creat Jobs-英语听力

[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English, [00:02.48]this is the Technology Report. [00:06.43]For years, many western companies [00:09.18]have sent important business services to India, [00:12.95]where they can be done at lower cost. [00:16.68]This is called outsourcing, [00:19.72]and it has brought jobs to India. [00:22.47]Other countries have seen the economic benefit of outsourcing [00:26.70]and are seeking to copy the Indian model. [00:30.91]For example, officials in Uganda [00:33.96]have opened an outsourcing centre [00:36.46]to train people in Internet technology. [00:40.05]Their aim is to create jobs for Ugandans. [00:44.47]26-year-old Flavia Aliteesa studied information technology in school. [00:52.62]Today, she is happy to have a job [00:55.37]but does not perform high level IT work. [00:59.57]She says, many of her former classmates [01:02.07]have been unemployed for years. [01:05.35]"First of all, I was given an opportunity to start working, [01:08.01]otherwise I would have been seated back home doing nothing. [01:11.05]At least it has given me a sense of independence, [01:14.00]since I earn and I can do something on my own," said Aliteesa. [01:17.25]Flavia Aliteesa works for a company called Techno Brain, [01:23.21]it offers business process outsourcing, [01:26.47]or BPO, to foreign companies. [01:30.31]The Ugandan government hopes more companies like Techno Brain [01:34.41]will begin operating in the country. [01:37.21]Uganda supports its small but growing BPO industry [01:43.11]by giving free office space and Internet service in Kampala. [01:48.73]The government has trained hundreds of people [01:51.73]in the skills that BPO companies need, [01:54.79]and plans to train thousands more. [01:58.62]Many people in Eastern Africa speak English, [02:02.54]and the area is in the same time-zone as Europe. [02:07.54]So countries there could be good places [02:10.72]for call centers and data processing. [02:14.08]And says Rogers Karebi, [02:16.42]the head of the Uganda BPO Association, [02:19.83]labor costs in other countries are growing. [02:23.48]"Quite a number of firms in India, [02:26.29]Asia and the Middle East have stepped up their prices, [02:30.85]so the cost of outsourcing to the initially indigenous [02:34.44]BPO destinations is on the rise. [02:36.34]So, quite a number of firms in the demand markets [02:40.33]are actually looking for alternative places to outsource to," said Karebi. [02:44.74]But there are big differences between Uganda and India, [02:49.59]one of the most important is the cost of Internet service. [02:54.37]Most experts agreed that the cost of Internet service [02:58.78]in East Africa would eventually be lowered, [03:02.13]but even this might not be enough. [03:05.03]Stephan Manning is an outsourcing expert [03:09.33]at the University of Massachusetts. [03:12.32]He says, East Africa might not have anything special to offer. [03:17.08]"These services need to be distinct enough [03:20.10]so that they don't enter price competition. [03:23.07]And that's exactly the problem. [03:25.47]In Kenya, if you provide English-speaking call center operations, [03:29.89]then you do nothing different than the Filipinos or India, [03:34.94]and there's no way you can compete on costs," said Manning. [03:38.54]He says it might be better for African countries [03:41.89]to offer their services to neighboring countries. [03:45.46]That way, he says, they would not being competition with Asia. [03:51.12]And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report. [03:56.03]I'm June Simms.