Fibre Optic Cable arrives in  Kenya

The arrival and laying down of the fibre optic cable signals the onset of a whole new era in the telecommunications industry, especially the data services in the East African region. The cable, which is expected to accelerate the country's economic growth through offering easy and faster Internet access services and bring down the cost of connectivity. It will be boon time for bloggers and tech savvy professionals, who largely depend on the internet to transact business, publish and share e-resources.

Telecommunication companies and call centres are also set to enjoy reduced cost of operation because they will switch from costly satellite connection to undersea cables. The cost of bandwidth which is about $9,000 (Kshs. 720,000) a mega byte would come down to $5,000 (Kshs. 400,000). It will also enable e-teleconferencing which means companies can hold conferences online instead of physical meetings.

Russ Sandlin

Head of Contact Center – Gulf Bank of Kuwait

Russ Sandlin, Head of the Contact Center at Gulf Bank of Kuwait, joined the bank in 2008. Prior to this, Russ managed large contact centers for Barclays PLC, HSBC, Chase Manhattan, Bank of America, AT&T and Dell.   Russ is also the founder of Benprise LLC, an Outsourcing Service Provider.

Russ started out in the industry in the early 1980’s while attending the University of Delaware and worked his way up in the leading Call Centers of the Unites States. Russ managed Call Center CTI Dialer projects.

Since then, Russ has helped US based investors move their work offshore setting up contact centers in Korea, Mexico, Dubai, Qatar, Pakistan, India, the Philippines, China, Ghana and Kuwait. Russ is an industry expert in Offshore Outsourcing, BPO, KPO and Contact Centers.

Kenneth Bone

President – Rising Data Solutions

Ken has over 20 years of experience establishing, developing and operating world-class BPO centers in emerging markets. He is one of the pioneers responsible for the establishment and success of the BPO industry in the Philippines. Prior to joining Rising Data, Ken was the CEO of Electraserv Inc., a contact center based in the Philippines. This call center was founded in February, 2005. Electraserv is a Hong Kong Company, with operations in the Philippines and marketing offices in the U.S.A. 

His prior work was as the CEO of Globalstride, a 700+ person call center also in the Philippines. He was asked by the investment group to reorganize the company to provide a clear path for growth. This included looking at opportunities in mergers and acquisitions to grow the company more quickly. Ken took the company from a $3.2M with an 11.2% EBITDA to a $10M run rate company with 22% EBITDA without any mergers or acquisitions in two years at the helm. 
Ken established the first high-tech, off-shore, out-sourced customer care contact center business in the Philippines. He was the CEO, President, and Board Member of a call center group of companies known as Advanced Contact Solutions, Inc. This is currently a publicly listed company in the Philippines with over 7,000 employees. 
Prior to developing the off shore call center business, Ken was the CIO and board member of Worldwide Satellite Broadcasting, Inc. in the U.S.

Dr. Pradeep Mukherjee is the President and Managing Partner of Avasant - Asia  

Avasant is a leading Management Consultancy and  Global Sourcing firm based in US. Dr. Mukherjee has over 20 years of experience and expertise in Consultancy and Management of Technology Business.  He has advised leading enterprises in US, Europe and ASPAC on strategic aspects of Services Globalization and Transformational Outsourcing. His expertise includes IT Consulting & Strategy, BPO Strategy, Global Risk Assessment and Management, Relationship Management, Contracting and Program Management and M&A .He has in the past advised Private Equity organizations on deal sourcing, deal structuring and post deal transformation.

Prior to joining Avasant, Pradeep was heading the Offshore Advisory practice of neoIT. Pradeep started his career at ESSO, where he was actively involved in optimization studies related to the Oil and Petroleum Sector. He joined the  IT sector in mid 80s and held key responsibilities in ICL-Fujitsu (UK) and Groupe Bull (France) to setup  Software Development Center in India and expand their market presence in US and other geographies like ASEAN, Africa and Middle East .

Pradeep can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

CAPTAIN PERCY JOKHI  -  Global Head of Security & Vigilance - Firstsource Solutions formerly Vice President of Security Services HSBC