Business Processes Outsourcing Association of Kenya (BPOAK)

The Business Process Outsourcing Association of Kenya (BPOAK) is Kenya’s national trade body for outsourcing. It unites more than 40 member firms in Nairobi, Mombasa and Tatu City, and it sells the country as an English language base to buyers abroad.

Most buyers know it simply as the BPO Association of Kenya. The body operated informally for years before it registered formally under Kenya’s Societies Act in January 2023, under registration number SOCA-DETAKV.

BPOAK groups members under three pillars: business process outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing, and IT process outsourcing (IT-PO). That spread covers inbound voice teams in Nairobi as well as legal research desks serving overseas law firms.

It also holds premium membership as a business membership organisation (BMO) inside the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA). That seat matters when national policy on digital work and special economic zones gets written.

Key takeaways

• BPOAK is Kenya’s national trade body for business process, knowledge process and IT process outsourcing firms.
• It registered formally under the Societies Act in January 2023, registration number SOCA-DETAKV.
• Members list themselves in a shared Find a Provider directory that foreign buyers can search by service line.
• Kenya’s pitch rests on strong English, roughly 100,000 university graduates a year and eight submarine cables landing at Mombasa.
• BPOAK sits inside KEPSA as a premium business membership organisation and works with KenInvest on investment promotion.

How it works

BPOAK works as a member funded association. Kenyan outsourcing firms pay dues, elect a board, and get representation with regulators, telcos and investment agencies. It lobbies on incentives, publishes sector data, and runs training tracks for agents and team leaders.

The body sits where three groups meet — private outsourcing firms, the ministries covering ICT and trade, and foreign buyers scouting Africa for delivery capacity.

It maintains standards, mediates disputes, and speaks for the sector at industry events in Nairobi such as the annual Connected Africa Summit.

Members also list themselves in BPOAK’s Find a Provider directory, a public roster buyers can search before they shortlist. For a contact centre buyer, that roster is often the first real contact with the Kenyan market.

On the investment side, BPOAK works with KenInvest, the Kenya Investment Authority, whose Digital One Stop Centre bundles the approvals a foreign operator needs to open a delivery site in Kenya.

Those approvals are the front door for the foreign direct investment (FDI) that funds new floors in Nairobi, Mombasa and secondary cities such as Nakuru and Kisumu.

Kenya’s case rests on infrastructure you can count. The table below gathers the figures BPOAK and its partners put in front of buyers who are weighing Nairobi against Manila or Cape Town.

BPOAK members also plug into the Kenya ICT Authority’s Ajira Digital programme, which trains young Kenyans and places them into online and outsourced work.

That programme feeds the advantage the association sells hardest — a young, degree holding, English fluent workforce that costs less than Cape Town and works closer to London than Manila does.

Examples

BPOAK’s roster runs from voice campuses to small analytics shops. More than 40 registered providers work across Nairobi, Mombasa and Tatu City, handling English language support and back office processing for clients in the UK, the US and East Africa.

Four member names show the spread:

• CCI Kenya — part of pan African provider CCI Global — runs contact centre seats in Tatu City outside Nairobi for UK and US clients in telecoms and retail.
• iSON Xperiences operates multilingual contact centre sites in Kenya, serving mobile network operators across East Africa.
• Kencall EPZ, one of the earliest Kenyan BPOs, has handled inbound customer service for airline and financial services accounts since 2004.
• Techno Brain BPO delivers knowledge process work such as legal support, data annotation and analytics from its Nairobi and Mombasa hubs.

Between them these firms employ thousands of Kenyan agents and analysts. They are the names investors meet when they weigh Kenya against Ghana, South Africa or Rwanda.

The work splits along the three pillars BPOAK recognises. Call centre and chat teams handle live customers, while information technology outsourcing (ITO) teams keep client systems running from Nairobi tech parks.

Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) desks take the analytical end: research, legal support, data annotation and reporting for buyers who want graduates rather than scripted agents.

For buyers running the numbers, our outsourcing calculator benchmarks Kenyan seat costs against comparable markets before you shortlist a provider.

Related terms

Kenya’s outsourcing vocabulary borrows from the wider industry, but these terms are the ones that come up when buyers scope Kenyan work. They cover the service lines BPOAK members sell and the investment and location choices sitting behind them.

• Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO): software, infrastructure and helpdesk work run from Nairobi tech parks.
• Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO): research, analytics and legal support handled by Kenya’s graduate workforce.
• Call Centre: telephone only support venues that feed Kenya’s English language demand.
• Contact Centre: voice, chat and email operations that anchor most BPOAK member firms.
• Offshoring: the practice of moving work abroad that drives Kenya’s inbound pipeline.
• Nearshoring: the regional proximity variant Kenya offers Middle East and European buyers.
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): the capital inflow BPOAK courts through joint programmes with KenInvest.

FAQ

What does BPOAK stand for?

BPOAK stands for the Business Process Outsourcing Association of Kenya. It is the recognised national body for firms delivering outsourced voice, IT and knowledge process services from Kenya.

Who can join BPOAK?

Any registered Kenyan firm delivering business process, knowledge process or IT process outsourcing can apply. Members pay dues and get shared marketing, government engagement and a directory listing. BPOAK itself registered under the Societies Act in January 2023.

Why do foreign buyers look at Kenya?

Buyers pick Kenya for strong English, roughly 100,000 graduates a year and the eight submarine cables landing at Mombasa. Kenya placed in Africa’s top three on the 2023 EF English Proficiency Index. Time zones also overlap the UK working day, which suits voice work.

How does BPOAK work with the Kenyan government?

BPOAK partners with the Ministry of ICT, KenInvest and the Kenya ICT Authority on incentives, training and promotion. It sits on advisory panels shaping policy for special economic zones. Its premium KEPSA membership opens a second route into national policy talks.

What does BPOAK membership actually get you?

Members get a listing in the provider directory, a collective voice with regulators and telcos, and access to the training tracks BPOAK runs with public agencies. Smaller firms use the association’s government access to reach conversations they could not open alone.

Is Kenya a nearshore or offshore market?

For UK and European buyers Kenya works as a near time zone offshore market, closer in hours than Manila and cheaper than Cape Town, while Middle East buyers treat it as a light nearshore option.

For further reading on African outsourcing markets, see commentary from OA’s Derek Gallimore; to compare Kenyan and global providers in one place, browse Outsource Accelerator.