Rajesh Chaplot on Leading CameoTechEdge Uganda: BPO and Call Center Solutions for Africa

What do you see as the company’s key competitive advantage? How do you ensure the highest standard of quality and customer satisfaction across all areas?

We focus on efficiency of staff. In our industry, cost depends upon efficiency. We ensure that efficiency is at the highest level by training our staff and keeping them motivated so our operational cost is low. There is always a bidding process with the multinational companies with whom we work. We take care of the staff’s efficiency, and keep turnover at a minimum to reduce the cost of operation. We are happy that we are within the acceptable range. In Africa, I would say, and in other parts of the Asian world, staff turnover is more than 10 – 15 percent. We keep it below 5 percent, and try to maintain that as much as possible.

Personalized services are our USP. We are available 24 hours a day for our client. We do not shut down our telephone lines after 5:00pm. Even the highest-level managers, even directors, are available to our clients 24/7. We also have 24-hour technical support from our Indian partner, who has a much bigger call center and BPO in the southern part of India. From there, they offer us 24-hour technical support whenever we need at any point of time. I would say 90 percent of the staff are locally hired because in the call center and BPO, you need local staff to take care of local customers.

Can you give us an overview of your services? Can you explain about the call centers? What is key IC and digitalization? What is docker management system software solutions document housing? Can you give us a brief summary of these services?

Most of our call centers in these three countries are for the telecom industry. Any consumer who has any grievances, who wants some information or has a question, can approach the call center of the telecom company. We are working with multiple telecom companies.

The call on the back end comes to our center, they think they are talking with X company and we speak on behalf of the telecom company to sort out customers’ queries. And for any reason, if a query is something very new or it cannot be resolved, which has not been updated to our team, then we take the details of the consumer and give it to the telecom companies to handle it. We use “KYC,” “Know Your Customer.” We work background for many clients. And of course telecom companies are at the top. We collect data for companies from their customers. We verify that the data which are passed in the system match the supporting documents given to us online. If there are errors, either we correct them or we reject that KYC. And when the KYC is rejected, the consumer of that company will not be able to transact business with that company. So KYC is very important, which we do on the background for many customers.

Digitizing; digitizing is to digitize the records of the organizations.. They have physical records. Many of those physical records are old, and many of them are generated in real time. These also need to be digitized.

We digitize them, arrange them properly, organize them, name the files properly so that they can be utilized by the organization easily. We also do warehousing of documents. Digitized or not, depending on the needs of the client, we store the documents at our warehouses on behalf of our clients. We give a guarantee to the client that within two to three minutes, we can search any document they send a request for. And whenever the clients needs those documents, they send us an inquiry, we look for those documents and give it to their offices.

What is your strategy to ensure the company stays competitive, especially in the Central African market? What is your presence outside Africa? Can you talk about the different markets?

Our BPO companies are in three countries. We started in DR Congo 10 or 12 years ago, and then we expanded to Tanzania. A couple of years before, we expanded into Uganda also. So we are based in three countries. The call center and BPO industry are very technology-based operations. So, of course, disruptions in the technology happens and we are aware of that, we are trying to stay ahead of it.

IVR technology and AI, these are the technologies which are going to disrupt what we are doing right now, because if those chatbots can answer most of the queries of our clients without going to the call center, then there is no need of call centers. It’s coming there, but there is a time to replace call centers with those chatbots or AI. It cannot be replaced completely, but to a great extent in the years to come, it would be replaced. So yes, we are aware of that. Even IVR technology has also taken a lot of market share. They are doing the work that a call center needs to do.

So we are well aware of that. We are diversifying our business, we are trying to add some new products, we are going into the new regions also. There are these IT-enabled services. We are trying to enter into IT-enabled services so that we can sell the products of the IT-enabled services, for our new client business. It is similar, but it’s a completely different business again. And also, we are looking; we have been successful in the acquisition of some existing businesses, and we are looking for more acquisitions.

You are going through a revolution in your sector. You need to adapt, and maybe that leads into my fourth question. What are you looking for? Investors, or specific investors that has some technology that can bring you the edge to be more competitive in this environment with chatbots trying to enter? And at the same time looking for investors that can convince US investors to come to Africa. Can you tell us more about what kinds of partners are you looking for to drive this growth?

Of course, we have deliberated informally among our directors and shareholders a couple of times, but not formally discussed this. We know that we are not looking for just an investor. We are looking for strategic partners who can add value to the business, who can bring either international business or technology to us. Something like that, yes, we are open to that, we have been discussing it, and I think very soon we will be making efforts for that.

What are the current projects and initiatives you are currently working on? I would say at the moment. What are you working on this month, next month, until November?

 We are trying to diversify our product list, and we are successful, we know. We have bid in some other regions of Africa apart from these three countries. And in these three countries, we are trying to add some new products so we can get some new clients in our business. There are a couple of things I will not be able to say on this platform, but there are a couple of things we are planning that will add value to our business soon.

You will tell us. If it’s too difficult, I understand. More generally, you have spent over two decades in the Ugandan business landscape. We are doing this project on Uganda right now, talking to the top personalities. What has been the biggest lesson you have learned about leading companies in emerging markets? How do you apply this to your current ventures?

I have been in Africa for 25 years. I started working in (DR) Congo, then I came to Uganda. And of course, while I was based in Uganda, I had been working with many countries in the last 25 years. I traveled a lot, through Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa and some other countries. Working in those multiple companies and multiple businesses, I was CEO of a group of companies, which was Graphics System, which I recently came out of after 25 years.

I have encountered many CEOs. There were many lessons. I learned how those CEOs and their companies are handling situations in Africa. Of course, my own experience of doing business in Uganda has given me a lot of opportunities to learn and to practice whatever I have learnt. Before I give some specific answers, let me tell you, I am writing a book also, which was suggested to me by a British lady, because I had written one book and she told me, ‘why don’t you write a book on why Indians are successful in Africa?’ Because in many African countries, Indians control more than 60 percent of the economy of that country.

We see that in all of Eastern Africa, it’s very valid.

In Eastern Africa, even in Central Congo also, it’s the same thing. The percentage range may vary from 30 to 60, but in that particular range, in Africa many Indians are successful. So yes, I am writing that book. That book answers the questions that you just asked, about what lessons I have learned. Let me give you some specific examples of the lessons I learned. Africa is composed of 54 countries. Many investors who are coming to Africa, or the foreign governments outside Africa, they treat Africa as a country, not as a continent.

There, I see they have gone wrong many times in their policies and strategies. Because they follow a uniform policy, uniform strategy, uniform way of working in these 54 countries which is not correct. Every African country has a different language, different culture, different laws of the land, different climate. It’s different, every country is completely different. I have seen it myself. When I work in three countries, the way of working is completely different. DR Congo is completely different than what Uganda is. That is where people go wrong. I have learned it

 I want to tell people and various governments also, when they come to Africa, treat every African country different. Do not make a uniform policy. Then, one more point. What I have seen in Africa is about multinational companies. They beat the drum always claiming that they empower people. But do they really empower people in Africa? I will talk about Africa, not other places.

No. Zero. I am saying the word, zero. What they do is, they decide the policy sitting in Europe or America. They decide each and every policy, each and every strategy,  and they just give those policies verbatim to the managers — not managers, the clerks in Africa to implement it.

They are not managers. They are not empowered to add any value to whatever they have decided sitting in those offices. So where is the empowerment? There is no empowerment given to them. Africa is suffering also because of that, because capacity-building in Africa is not happening, because these are all clerks who are just obeying the instructions of their masters sitting in the Western world.

And even the organizations are suffering. I have seen it — Talent in multinational companies is going away because the reason is, they do not see value, because they cannot add their thought process in it until — some of them have gone and grown and have started working in those head offices there. But there are few. So empowerment is missing. Twenty-five years ago, when I reached Africa, I saw that empowerment was there. But after 25 years, that empowerment is missing. That is one thing. One more thing I would like to say: The cost of production in Africa is high compared to other parts of the world. The reason is that skilled manpower is not available.

So you have to bring experts from other countries, which is costly when you bring them. The efficiency of the workforce is not at par with international standards. If I compare, the efficiency of the Western world is the highest. Asia is in second place, and Africa is third. So that efficiency makes the cost of production high. Availability of raw material, intermediary or aligned products are not available easily in Africa. You have to import each and every thing. That makes the cost of production high.

If I now talk about the culture of corruption. Corruption plays a major role for every investor who comes to Africa. Corruption works both ways. It can reduce or increase your cost of operation. I hope you understand why I say it can increase or reduce the cost of operations. It works both ways. It also can reduce or increase your time needed to do a task.

By giving some money to corrupt officials, you can get your work done in two days. And if you do not give them, it can take maybe two months. So yes, that affects it that way. Corruption can also change policies overnight. If you are using this corruption tool, you can make policies in your favor or sometimes your competitor makes the policies in their favor and which can affect you negatively. So the same thing, it can be positive and negative, both sides. You have to be on top of that. It can have an impact on the quality, because if your competitor is playing with corruption, he can play with quality and then he can beat you around. So that corruption needs to be answered and taken care of.

Why do you say that the Indian business community is better adapted? Because you just started with that, and all the different threads, the way that people treat African countries as a continent, the empowerment of people, the cost is high in Africa for different reasons for the workforce that is not always efficient, the corruption. The Indian community, the business people are more used to dealing with that sort of thing, they know how to deal with it. What is the key? What is the answer in the book you are going to publish one of these days?

There are a couple of reasons, they are all equally important, I can’t say that one overrides the other. One is that the environment in India is very similar to Africa, or it was similar maybe some years ago. Maybe India is going towards progressive growth. But it was very similar to African nations. Corruption exists in India also. So yes, the Indian knows how to handle corruption well. And then there are some very good qualities about Indians. One is that they know how to save money, they understand mathematics, they know accounting, which I think somehow Africans lack in their practicality in business. I have seen it. People in Africa treat sales as their profit. And big business people cannot understand the difference between sales and profit, even the exchange difference accounting. I think they lack an understanding of the exchange difference.

The exchange difference is one of the most difficult things for them, because they know how to work in the local currency. More than 70 percent of the raw material and goods are being imported. You have to understand the exchange fluctuation effect very easily, otherwise. I was in DR Congo. If in the morning, I have 1 million in local currency in my pocket, and I have not exchanged it into dollars by the evening, I may have half a million. I have seen that. We used to never keep a local currency in our coffers.

You come from an accountant or finance background yourself, which makes you very aware of that sort of thing. I wanted to ask you a last question, I see the time is running. You have won numerous awards recognizing your contributions, both in Uganda and India. How do you balance the demands of leadership while continuing to inspire and mentor the next generation of business leaders in Africa? Do you mentor people? How do you impact the young generation of business leaders?

One second. Before I come to this question, I wanted to give my experience. When I arrived in Africa 25 years before, in 1996, I used to hear in various international media, United Nations reports and many places all over the world. They used to say that Africa is the future of the world. In the next ten years, you will see Africa booming. That was the vision I also had at that period of time.

In my speeches during that time, I used to say, “Europe and America are the past of the world. Asia, India, China are the current of the world, and Africa is the future.” I used to say this sentence very proudly, but after 25 years, has Africa achieved it? I am sorry to say, no. Again, I see in recent media that in next ten years Africa will be booming. Now, this is not true somewhere. It is not at all true. Not at all true. There is something wrong happening. The world is not handling Africa right. That’s what I feel. I can talk in detail, but at least I wanted to touch on that subject also. Now coming to your question about the awards, what various awards I got in Uganda and in India, I got the highest award, Civilian Award of the President of Uganda, also from the President of India.

And of course, if I answer your question quickly, an award is a recognition, it motivates you, it gives you more responsibility. I have seen it for myself. I have taken more responsibilities. I want to give it back to the community now. That is why I am writing that book. And because I worked in Africa for so many years, if I can add value back by even writing a book, it will help Africa.

Of course it also inspires many people. Many people come and talk with me in person and they got inspired in that way. I am not talking about Indians, I am talking about Africans who got inspired by me, and they still contact me whenever they need to take my advice. What I see is that Africa needs more indigenous black African leaders, to lead the society and the business. I think Africa lacks leadership qualities. Africa does not have leaders. They need many, many more leaders. If you see the African economy, as I said earlier, a majority of the African economy is controlled by expatriates, I said Indians at that time. You talk about Indians, multinational companies, and Chinese, I think they control maybe 80 percent of the economy, which is not right for Africa.

Africa needs to develop their own leadership, their own businesses. If not 100 percent, no country will develop it, but at least 60 percent. You need to have your own indigenous people running that economy. That needs to be there. African leaders somewhere in the past have behaved abruptly, if you talk about India. And then some other leaders I will not name, in African countries who have thrown all the expatriate community out of the country, abruptly. That has made Africa fall behind. That needs to be corrected there. We need to build capacity among the local, indigenous Africans. I think that is where the world has to do something, and we as business people need to add value there. And Africans themselves also need to reflect on why outside people are coming to Africa and more successful. They should not think of just throwing those people out. While those people are working, they should also come up and beat them competitively in the business and replace them to a certain extent.

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