‘Development’, profiles and prospects: labour in Kenya's outsourced call centres

As part of the government's Vision 2030 initiative, Kenya's business process outsourcing (BPO) sector has been identified as a key source of development and employment creation. With those in the sector hoping to challenge more established outsourcing destinations in the global industry, Kenya's potential has been based on a particular geographic, cultural and human resource profiling, emphasizing its suitability for voice-based call centre services. In light of BPOs’ association with ‘development’, this article draws upon the people-centred concept of ‘wellbeing’ to explore the implications of the expansion of the sector and the onus on internationally oriented call centre labour. Underlining the need to foreground existing workers’ experiences, the article argues that the picture for those employed in the sector has been mixed with respect to the material, relational and subjective gains from the work. While agents recruited describe beneficial and recognized work experience, the work has yet to represent a stable, long-term professional prospect, with the sector beset by an inconsistent financial record.