BPOs typically provide services ranging from customer care to IT support and software development and testing. Regardless of the service offered, every BPO company needs fluent English speakers.
To understand the landscape of English skills in Rwanda, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator , a social enterprise working in partnership with the Rwandan government and the Mastercard Foundation to address youth unemployment, conducted over 7,000 assessments on English skills among young people.
While 46% of those assessed showed enough understanding of English to work for a BPO Employer – only 10% spoke English well enough. To support the growth of the BPO sector in Rwanda, and provide jobs for young people, Rwanda will need enough young people able to speak English well. In response to this need, Harambee partnered with the Rwandan Government and a large BPO Employer, Tek Experts to develop a spoken English training programme.
In a six-week pilot programme, aimed at improving English skills, 70 potential Tek Expert employees, received daily spoken English assignments on WhatsApp. Early results are promising: on completion of the programme: 83% of graduates had changed their behaviour to increase their exposure to English by spending more time speaking, reading and listening to English. 98% felt more confident when speaking English and 96% said they were able to speak in longer English sentences, demonstrating an ease and comfort with the language overall—something that is critical for the BPO industry, which relies on spoken English and a customer service orientation.
Most importantly, over one-third of participants saw improvements in their spoken English assessment score. This shift was sufficient to see 32% of participants make the leap to qualify for the TekExperts role.
These results, after a relatively light touch (no classroom training, no teacher) self-directed program shows that acquiring confidence in spoken English can shift a young person’s job prospects. And this is a taste of what might be possible if a program like this could be scaled.
Harambee is now partnering with the University of Rwanda to build a pipeline of English skills by piloting the introduction of this Spoken English Programme into the tertiary education system, with an eye towards developing the talent pool that will attract more BPO employers to the country.
Gary Bennett, Country Manager of Tek Experts, highlighted that such programs are essential to create success for both the BPO opportunity in Rwanda ‘and importantly, the young people we are looking to employ’.
“The success of the Harambee Spoken English approach allows the young talent we employ to confidently express their knowledge, personality and importantly, resolve highly technical issues for our English speaking customers across the globe,” he said.
Rwanda’s recognition as an upcoming BPO location is not just hyperbole. It could, in fact mean improved job prospects for thousands. Now, more than ever, we need to focus attention on where the jobs are, and the fastest ways in which we can bridge the gap between young people’s skills and the jobs on the horizon.
Hannah Adams is the Country Manager at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator
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