VOA慢速英語:Uganda Looks to Outsourcing to Creat Jobs

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語科技報道。

For years, many western companies have sent important business services to India, where they can be done at lower cost. This is called outsourcing, and it has brought jobs to India. Other countries have seen the economic benefit of outsourcing and are seeking to copy the Indian model.

許多西方公司多年來將重要的商業(yè)業(yè)務(wù)發(fā)到印度，在這里，這些業(yè)務(wù)能夠以較低的成本完成。這就是所謂的業(yè)務(wù)外包，同時它給印度帶來了就業(yè)機(jī)會。其它國家看到了業(yè)務(wù)外包的經(jīng)濟(jì)收益，開始尋求復(fù)制印度的模式。

For example, officials in Uganda have opened an outsourcing centre to train people in Internet technology. Their aim is to create jobs for Ugandans.

例如，烏干達(dá)官員開設(shè)了一個外包中心培養(yǎng)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)技術(shù)人才，其目的是為烏干達(dá)創(chuàng)造就業(yè)機(jī)會。

26-year-old Flavia Aliteesa studied information technology in school. Today, she is happy to have a job but does not perform high level IT work. She says, many of her former classmates have been unemployed for years.

26歲的Flavia Aliteesa在學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)了信息技術(shù)。如今，她很高興擁有一份工作，雖然不是從事高層次的IT工作。她說，她以前的很多同學(xué)都已經(jīng)失業(yè)多年。

"First of all, I was given an opportunity to start working, otherwise I would have been seated back home doing nothing. At least it has given me a sense of independence, since I earn and I can do something on my own," said Aliteesa.

她說，“首先，我獲得了一個工作的機(jī)會，否則我會一直坐在家里無所事事。它至少給了我獨立的感覺，因為我自己賺錢，也可以自己做些事情。”

Flavia Aliteesa works for a company called Techno Brain, it offers business process outsourcing, or BPO, to foreign companies. The Ugandan government hopes more companies like Techno Brain will begin operating in the country.

Flavia Aliteesa就職于一家名為Techno Brain的公司，該公司面向外國公司提供業(yè)務(wù)流程外包。烏干達(dá)政府希望更多類似Techno Brain的公司開始在該國經(jīng)營。

Uganda supports its small but growing BPO industry by giving free office space and Internet service in Kampala. The government has trained hundreds of people in the skills that BPO companies need, and plans to train thousands more.

烏干達(dá)在坎帕拉通過提供免費辦公場所和互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務(wù)支持其微小卻不斷增長的業(yè)務(wù)流程外包產(chǎn)業(yè)。烏干達(dá)政府已經(jīng)培訓(xùn)了數(shù)百名業(yè)務(wù)流程外包公司所需的人才，并計劃再培訓(xùn)數(shù)千人。

Many people in Eastern Africa speak English, and the area is in the same time-zone as Europe. So countries there could be good places for call centers and data processing. And says Rogers Karebi, the head of the Uganda BPO Association, labor costs in other countries are growing.

東非的很多人都講英語，并且該地區(qū)和歐洲位于同一時區(qū)。所以這些國家可能是建立呼叫中心和數(shù)據(jù)處理中心的好地方。同時烏干達(dá)業(yè)務(wù)流程外包聯(lián)盟負(fù)責(zé)人Rogers Karebi表示，其它國家的勞動力成本正在上漲。

"Quite a number of firms in India, Asia and the Middle East have stepped up their prices, so the cost of outsourcing to the initially indigenous BPO destinations is on the rise. So, quite a number of firms in the demand markets are actually looking for alternative places to outsource to," said Karebi.

他說，“相當(dāng)多印度、亞洲和中東地區(qū)的公司已經(jīng)提高了他們的價格，所以最初的這些業(yè)務(wù)流程外包目的地的費用在上漲。因此，存在需求的很多公司實際上都在尋找外包給其它地方。”

But there are big differences between Uganda and India, one of the most important is the cost of Internet service. Most experts agreed that the cost of Internet service in East Africa would eventually be lowered, but even this might not be enough.

但烏干達(dá)和印度之間有著巨大差異，其中最重要的是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務(wù)的成本。大多數(shù)專家一致認(rèn)同東非的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務(wù)成本最終會下調(diào)，但即使這樣可能還不夠。

Stephan Manning is an outsourcing expert at the University of Massachusetts. He says, East Africa might not have anything special to offer.

斯蒂芬·曼寧(Stephan Manning)是美國馬薩諸塞大學(xué)的外包專家。他說，東非可能沒有特別吸引人之處。

"These services need to be distinct enough so that they don't enter price competition. And that's exactly the problem. In Kenya, if you provide English-speaking call center operations, then you do nothing different than the Filipinos or India, and there's no way you can compete on costs," said Manning.

曼寧說，“這些服務(wù)需要足夠獨特，才能不參與價格競爭。而這就是問題所在。如果在肯尼亞提供英語呼叫中心業(yè)務(wù)，和菲律賓或印度相比并無優(yōu)勢，在成本上也沒法競爭。”

He says it might be better for African countries to offer their services to neighboring countries. That way, he says, they would not being competition with Asia.

他說，非洲國家可能最好是為鄰國提供服務(wù)，這樣，他們就不用和亞洲競爭。