Though India, the Philippines and South Africa are the dominant
countries in the Business Processes Outsourcing (BPO) industry, many companies
are beginning to look for other viable destinations as the industry's
powerhouses become overburdened and saturated. Nigeria, the most populous
country in Africa and 7th most populous country in the world with significant
growth in mobile and internet usage, is attracting global companies in the
United States, UK, EU and Australian markets looking to subcontract various
aspects of their operations.
The Business Process Outsourcing industry in Nigeria is relatively in infancy
stages with its own peculiar challenges, yet some factors that have played a
vital role in foregrounding India and the Philippines as destinations for
business outsourcing services are already present in the country. Nigeria is a developing country characterised
with a young and educated population (over 100 million), who are tech-literate
and English-speaking. Also, Nigeria’s favourable time zone may be better suited to serve
clients in Western time zones than countries in Asia. Nigerian BPOs estimate that a 50-70% cost reduction on UK inhouse costs can be expected.
Nigeria’s government
has also worked assiduously for the past four years to improve transparency and
ease of doing business in Nigeria. In order to attract foreign businesses and
investors in the outsourcing sector, PEBEC
(Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council) was established in July 2016. The
organisation is supported by the Executive Order 01 (EO1) signed in 2017 to
remove delays and restrictions that come with doing business in Nigeria. In the
past 3 years, the inter-governmental agency has implemented more
than 140 reforms to make the
country an easier place to start and grow a business.
To ensure that the BPO industry is able to
thrive and grow, regulatory
bodies (e.g. the Outsourcing Development Initiative of Nigeria
(ODIN), Association of Outsourcing Practitioners of Nigeria (AOPN), Nigeria
Association of Information Technology Enabled Outsourcing Companies (NATIEOC)
and Assessment of Core Competencies for Employability in the Service Sector
(ACCESS Nigeria) were put in place. Through their activities, there have been
compliance and consistent reporting of outsourcing regulations at an
international level.
The World Bank, in
2018, reported that 32 states in the country, especially Lagos and Kano have
shown significant improvement in their ease of doing business. The reforms made
starting a business easy by enabling business owners reserve a business name in
4 hours, register their companies online within 24 hours, electronically apply
for and receive approval of a visa-on-arrival within 48 hours, file and pay
taxes online. Many of the ministries, departments and agencies in charge of
these services, have therefore taken up the challenge to deliver more
transparent and efficient services to businesses at home and abroad. As a
result, Nigeria has moved up 25 places in the world ranking, and is now the 4th
in Africa in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index 2019.
Business is complex
enough with so many factors to put in place in order to have a competitive
edge. This is why every company looks to work with an outsourcing firm located
in a country that makes job deliverables efficient, effective and seamless. Nigeria
is fast becoming a country with standardized regulatory and business policies,
therefore opportunities for Business Process Outsourcing has gone beyond moving
large volume of transactions from anywhere in the world to facilitating the
successful growth of globally-recognised brands. Nigerian BPOs currently service inbound and outbound high-value work for large telecoms, insurance, banking, professional services, medical, non-profit and software companies across the EU, Africa, Japan and the USA.