Tag: Amal Hassan

Nigerian Outsource Powerhouse Partners with Qwasar, Launches Software Development Department at Silicon Valley Standards

Amal Hassan is the impressive and talented CEO at Outsource Global, an outsourcing company she founded in Nigeria specialising in customer service, legal service, back office support, IT support services, AI services, etc. Over the last four years, the company has grown to over 900 employees, serving clients in US, UK/ EU, Japan, and Africa. With high standards of professionalism, a strong belief in the Nigerian talent pool, and the confidence in delivering at international standards, Amal sought a training solution that would enable her to open a software development department within Outsource Global to serve the growing needs of her clients. A forward thinker and on-the-ball leader, Amal knows well that the force of her company is the talent she hires and maintains, thus talent was the problem she had to solve while maintaining her focus on Nigerian talent. (Amal with Kwame) Amal partnered with Qwasar Silicon Valley and launched a pilot 3-month training program for 10 young developers. She created a learn-to-earn program within Outsource Global, taking bootcamp graduates or local computer science graduates, and working with Qwasar Silicon Valley to train them in full stack development to Silicon Valley standards. Using innovative training methods, hands-on experience, and a science-backed system, Qwasar is a global leader in tech talent training and firmly believes that future tech talent won’t necessarily come out of the US. “The African tech ecosystem is growing and has enormous potential. We want to help thousands realise their potential, compete at an international level, and build the future tech applications and software not just for Africa, but for the world,” said Qwasar Silicon Valley co-founder Kwame Yamgnane. Amal, CEO of Outsource Global, said “Working with Qwasar, has allowed us to create a new service line for our company while creating additional employment for young talented developers in Nigeria. This has allowed us to make more impact in a region that is yearning to showcase its talent and its capabilities.  We will continue to work with Qwasar to train and upskill more developers and outsource the service of more developers to the international market. Qwasar is simply a blessing to Outsource Global, Nigeria and Africa.” Because the program is true skills-based learning and develops 21st-century skills required for good software developers, all 10 program graduates were successfully hired at Outsource Global. Client contracts were already lined up for the new department before they had even finished the program: such was the demand and reputation of Outsource Global. “Qwasar is simply the best program for creating top-end developers that has ever existed,” said Abudahud, one of the trainees-turned-developers at Outsource Global. “I have been fortunate to be one of the developers trained by Qwasar. Qwasar teaches in-demand coding skills through a blended learning approach dedicated to readying students for a career as a software developer. Most of the graduates of the program landed jobs as intermediate and senior-level developers.” (The team solving exercises and debugging code together) Qwasar has succeeded in bridging the gap between academics and industry by training skilled developers instilled with globally accepted best practices and technical ability in software development. Qwasar is a global leader in tech talent training and firmly believes that future tech talent won’t necessarily come out of the US. “The African tech ecosystem is growing and has enormous potential. We want to help thousands realise their potential, compete at an international level, and build the future tech applications and software not just for Africa, but for the world,” said Qwasar Silicon Valley co-founder Kwame Yamgnane “We are honoured to work with Amal and the team at Outsource Global. It’s really powerful to offer young Nigerians accessible training to improve themselves to a high technical level with such practical experience in the tech world. Truly this is a life changer and a game changer for youth, a creative and effective means of recruiting and building a talent pipeline, and a way to increase Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global digital economy. Their team is undoubtedly one of the leading teams of outsourced developers in the country.” concluded Yamgnane. Despite the current economic climate and challenges globally, Amal has launched another cohort of trainees as she grows her department throughout the year. For information about outsourced software development projects at Outsource Global, please contact them directly by email. Written by Jennifer Robertson Jennifer is one of the co-founders of Qwasar and is on a mission to make a difference via engaging education.

Amal Hassan: Founder & CEO, Outsource Global – A Techpreneur’s Story of Failing Forward in Business

About the podcast Amal Hassan is the Founder and CEO of Outsource Global. A leading business process outsourcing company based in Nigeria and serving countries in Africa, the United States, UK and Japan. Her passion to unlock Nigeria’s development potential through technology-driven innovation and value addition led her to build, capitalize and restructure a series of  technology-related businesses that succeed in developing talents and creating employment for young Nigerians. This article was originally published by Amazon.

African Business Stories

Amal Hassan: Founder & CEO, Outsource Global – A Techpreneur’s Story of Failing Forward in Business Amal Hassan is the Founder and CEO of Outsource Global. A leading business process outsourcing company based in Nigeria and serving countries in Africa, the United States, UK and Japan. Her passion to unlock Nigeria’s development potential through technology-driven innovation and value addition led her to build, capitalize and restructure a series of  technology-related businesses that succeed in developing talents and creating employment for young Nigerians. Originally published by Buzzsprout.

Our Mentorship Session With Amal Hassan

Who is Amal Hassan? Amal Hassan is a visionary tech entrepreneur and CEO of Outsource Global. Her primary goal is to make Nigeria the leading Business Process Outsourcing destination in the world. She started Outsource Global in 2016, which has since risen fast to become a global giant in the BPO Industry, achieving its 5-year plan within one year of commencing operations and with no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Originally published by The UNshack.

COVID-19: NITDA sets up committee on sustaining IT dividends

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) had set up a 10-member advisory committee to curtail the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the Information Technology (IT) ecosystem. Also considering its impact on the economy. Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of NITDA, disclosed this in a statement by Mrs. Hadiza Umar, Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations on Wednesday in Abuja. Originally published by VANGUARD

OUTSOURCE GLOBAL CEO AND FOUNDER SET TO ATTEND VC-BOOTCAMP, SILICON VALLEY

Outsource Global CEO/Founder, Amal Hassan is set to attend the 2020 VC-Bootcamp scheduled to hold next week at the Silicon Valley. Themed “Bridging African and American Innovation Ecosystems,” Amal Hassan will focus on how Outsource Global helps organizations achieve efficient and lean growth whilst reducing operational cost and time. This year’s boot camp will be attended by Stanford LEAD participants and alumni, along with the brightest minds from promising tech start-ups. It also boasts of a well-planned program featuring a pitch competition with Outsource CEO/Founder, Amal Hassan, as one of the judges and a perfect environment for networking opportunities. Passionate about unlocking Nigeria’s developmental potentials through technology-driven innovation and value addition, Amal has built, capitalized and restructured a series of technology-related businesses that have succeeded in developing talents and creating employment for young Nigerians. About VC Bootcamp The VC-BootCamp helps leaders and executives turn good ideas into great businesses. This LEADers-centric event is hosted at Stanford GSB every year in March. What Will Happen During The VC Boot Camp? Meet and greet with influential executive LEADers. Understand Africa’s various innovation ecosystems. How governments and investors can build bridges between American and African ecosystems. What are the favourable African Markets? The impact of AI and FinTech on Africa innovation. Customer acquisition in Africa: how to? The role of large African corporations in attracting foreign investment on the continent. Find Amal Hassan: Twitter: @Amal_Outsource LinkedIn: Amal Hassan Outsource Global: www.outsourceglobal.com

Breaking Boundaries With Outsource Global – Amal Hassan

Amal Hassan possesses a unique entrepreneurial prowess and business acumen. This continues to set her apart as a highly regarded emerging business leader in Nigeria. Over the years, she has participated in local and international business missions. Amal has attended various professional and leadership courses, conferences and seminars both locally and abroad. She is also an Alumna of Fortune-US Department of State Global Women’s Mentoring Programme which links young female leaders to Fortune‘s most powerful women. Originally published by Konnect Africa

NDESUMMIT: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RAGHAV PRASAD, DIVISION PRESIDENT FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, MASTERCARD ON LEVERAGING DIGITAL SOLUTIONS

At the Nigeria Digital Economy Summit (NDES), leading international and local investors, experts, and policy makers from across the world were present. They gathered to discuss vital issues under the theme “Leveraging Digital Economy for Trade & Investment.” The event took place at the Statehouse Banquet Hall, Abuja from the 14th to 15th of November 2019. This article was originally published by Ventures.

Magnifying Words and Sounds of Women at Ake Festival

An interesting session brought two women who have succeeded in their careers. Mo Abudu, acclaimed broadcaster and film producer, and Kano-based technopreneur, Amal Hassan both held the audience spellbound. They relayed their experiences, marching in a forest dominated by men. The session was moderated by Shoneyin. It was tagged ‘The Changing Face of Corporate Africa’. Abudu and Hassan urged all present (especially young ladies) to be ready to dare. They encouraged them on the need to stay focused on their dreams. And to be prepared to make sacrifices without compromising their integrity. Originally published by thisdaylive.com

Outsource Global Wins Service Exporting Award

Outsource Global wins the Service Exporting Company of the Year Award. The company has been recognized as Nigeria’s premier business process outsourcing company. Speaking during the awards ceremony, the Founder and CEO of Outsource Global, Amal Hassan said “our goal is to make Nigeria the leading outsourcing destination in the world. This article was originally published by TheGuardian

Outsource Global engages world leaders at the UN General Assembly on ways to expand employment opportunities for African Youth

The Chief Executive Officer of Outsource Global, Amal Hassan, recently met with world leaders at the just concluded United Nations General Assembly to present bold new ideas for job creation for African youth. Amal, a leading Nigerian technopreneur, who is passionate about fostering economic development through creating growth-enabled career paths for knowledgeable African youths through Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), recently discussed with world leaders on ‘How to deliver a new approach that raises ambition and meets the scale and complexity of the challenge’. She shared practical knowledge and innovative ways of solving the unemployment challenges in Africa. Amal’s presentation, made at a workshop, during the 2018 UNGA, co-hosted by Theresa May (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) and Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister of Canada), had other world leaders and international actors such as Shinzo Abe (Prime Minister of Japan), Uhuru Kenyatta (President of the Republic of Kenya), Paul Kagame (President of the Republic of Rwanda), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (President of Ghana). Others include: Antonio Guterres (Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Amina J. Mohammed (Deputy Secretary-General of the UN), Bill Gates (co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Kristalina Georgieva (CEO of the World Bank), in attendance among many others. Her presentation brought to the fore, practical approaches to dealing with the African dilemma: “Job creation for youths is a major problem in most developing countries. Between now and 2035, Africans will have to create 18 million new jobs every year to keep pace with the rapidly growing population. The reason is not far-fetched from the fact that, the problem of unemployment is more complex in Africa than other parts of the world” As a promoter of youth empowerment, she illustrated how she has created employment opportunities for over 700 youths, and women in particular across major cities in Nigeria within 1-year using the instrumentality of global business process outsourcing, adding: “We are partnering with global investors and leaders to increase access to economic opportunities, create lasting jobs that will reduce the rate of unemployed youths in Nigeria, and bring about sustainable development growth across Africa.” Her presentation which met with a standing ovation has since generated much interest, commitment and focus around ameliorating the African unemployment issue leveraging BPO. This is now generating interest in partnering with Outsource Global in delivering private sector-led initiatives that can meet the scale of the challenge while creating truly win-win Economic relations between African and 1st world Nations. With this in view, it can be safely stated that African youth stand to benefit from these new ideas around employment and career growth potentials within the BPO sector. It however remains to be seen how readily the African Governments transmute some of the ideas espoused into policy frameworks that support the employment, economic exchanges and investment opportunities discussed.

MAKING NIGERIA A PREMIER OUTSOURCING DESTINATION: A CHAT WITH AMAL HASSAN, CEO OF OUTSOURCE GLOBAL

Interviewed by: Chukwuemeka Agbata (ChannelsTV TechTrends) Interviewer: What is Business process outsourcing (BPO)? Amal Hassan: Business process outsourcing (BPO) involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of a specific business process to a third-party service provider. Companies in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia outsource their customer service to mostly third-world countries for a cheaper rate. So, America international clients have been outsourcing to India since 1980. Interviewer: The Indian outsourcing sector is reported to worth over $150 billion. How can Nigeria take part in this market share? Amal Hassan: Nigeria has all the requirements to take part in this market share. Nigeria has English as its official language, we have good accents, with excellent technology, manpower, better timeline, talented and educated citizens. This puts Nigeria in a better position than India to Serve the International Market. Interviewer: So what has prevented us from taking over India in the outsourcing space? Amal Hassan: Lack of initiative, high capital involved in setting up business process outsourcing, and lack of awareness, Just to mention a few. Interviewer: The outsourcing business relies so much on technology. Do you have a computer science degree? Amal Hassan: No, I don’t. I studied Business Administration at Bayero University, Kano. You don’t need to have a degree in computer science to get into Information Technology (IT) business. All you need do is employ people with the Information Technology skills needed for the business. Interviewer: Looking at your background, why did you decide to go into this industry? Amal Hassan: In 2005, we started with an Information Technology training centre in Kano where we had trained a lot of IT professionals. We started researching what we could do to provide employment for the youths and women we have trained whilst I was dealing with a lot of Indians at that time. I looked at India and researched on what they did. I found out Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) provided over 2.2million jobs and it kept increasing by 15 percent every year. From my research, I discovered we have all the requirements needed to set up a business process outsourcing firm in Nigeria hence, I worked towards establishing my company. Interviewer: As a woman in technology from the Northern part of the country, what challenges have you faced? Amal Hassan: The most common challenge I face is balancing family and work- to make sure the both don’t suffer. Also, I found out people do not take women seriously. It is very hard for me as a woman to sell what I do. For instance, prior to my establishment of the company, I met a lot of people for investment and they didn’t believe a company in Nigeria can service the international market. Another challenge is the environment. It is very difficult to do business in Nigeria as we all know. But for the passion I have to change the country, I am ready to succumb the challenges by providing employment for youths and women in the country. At Outsource Global, more than 50 percent of over 700 employees are women and 90 percent of the team leads are women. Interviewer: What do you think we can do to encourage more girls in technology and what would you say to leaders/government? Amal Hassan: By creating more awareness of the need for technology in Nigeria. We need to introduce technology to our primary schools’ system. I was not exposed to technology at a very young age. I got married at a very young age and had my 4 children in Kano. I went to the university as a married woman. It was after marriage my husband encouraged me to learn basic computing skills. In the North, we can introduce more schools, create more awareness so they can even learn IT while conserving its norms and traditions. If the Northern leaders can invest more in training youth and women in Information Technology, we will have more of “Amal Hassan” today. Interviewer: Finally Amal, as you work towards making Nigeria the premier outsourcing destination. Where do you see your company in the next 5 years? Amal Hassan: I see Outsource Global providing employment for over 6000 people. We have already opened 3 centres with a plan to opening the fourth one in North East very soon. I will keep on increasing centres based on my client needs. The current clients we have affords us the opportunity to expand our centres for now till next year. We have a stable plan to execute this so you can imagine when we have new clients, they keep expanding because we render better services and efficient delivery. Watch full interview: — https://youtu.be/1D8yPmnneJs

Amal Named among Emerging Leaders of U.S. Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership

Amal Hassan has been named among emerging leaders named in the 2018 Fortune-US Department of State Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership. She is a Nigerian technopreneur and Chief Executive Officer of Outsource Global. Amal had multiple sessions at Y&R a global leading branding and communications powerhouse. Amal focused on developing critical leadership, professional and business skills during her mentorship with Shelly Diamond. Originally published by TheGuardian

AMAL HASSAN NAMED AMONG EMERGING LEADERS BY FORTUNE

According to USAID, “When women do better, countries do better, communities do better, and families do better.” This is why Amal Hassan, a Nigerian technopreneur and Chief Executive Officer of Outsource Global was one of 16 women business leaders who made it to the 2018 Fortune-US Department of State Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership. The Fortune-US Department of State Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership is a public-private partnership between Fortune Most Powerful Women, the U.S. Department of State and Vital Voices Global Partnership. This year’s mentoring partnership featured emerging-leader mentees from 13 countries. These include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Palestinian Territories, Kenya, Macedonia, Mongolia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, and Vietnam. The programme also had in attendance over 300 alumnae who have worked with mentors from America’s most prestigious companies, such as Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, and Accenture. Amal Hassan and other mentees engaged in skills training, panel discussions, networking events, and mentorships with executives from the Fortune Most Powerful Women community. During her mentorship with Shelly Diamond, the Chief Client officer of Young and Rubicom (Y&R), Amal focused on developing critical leadership, professional and business skills. Y&R, Wunderman, VML, Sparkplug companies and WPP fellows also offered their time, helping her with brand building, social media strategies, channel planning, web strategy and personal leadership skills. In addition to meeting with practice leads throughout the company, a core team held a strategic planning session to help Amal articulate her unique vision and mission. Amal Hassan has earned an unprecedented amount of recognition over the years for her remarkable business success and commitment to promoting youth and women empowerment. Her company, Outsource Global, employs more than 1,500 women and 700 youths as call centre agents, legal practitioners and medical professionals. Having its world-class facilities in Abuja, Lagos, and Kaduna. This article appeared on BusinessDay Newspaper for 18th July, 2018 on page 36

BREAKING STEREOTYPES: THE AMAL HASSAN STORY

Amal Hassan wanted to be a medical doctor so she applied to the university to study medicine. However, the university admitted her to study business administration. She was encouraged by her mother to study the given course or end up in early marriage which was the norm in Northern Nigeria during her time. After obtaining her degree, she enrolled in a program to study basic computer skills and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineering in Lagos. Upon her return from Lagos to Kano, Amal started the first organized IT training center in Kano. Its primary objective was to enable women to acquire IT skills and broaden their job prospects. By 2005, the center had trained over 3,000 women and youths. However, the bane for youths and women trained at the center was getting employed since they had their first degree in different fields. In a bid to solve this unemployment problem, Amal started a company that provides financial software management solutions to banks thus providing employment for some of her graduates. Observing the poor record keeping in the public hospitals her family uses, she started another company that provides healthcare automation systems for public hospitals. Today her company provide services for six public hospitals. Amal Hassan took her dream a step further delving into knowledge and business process outsourcing for organizations within various sectors of the Nigerian economy led to the establishment of Outsource Global formerly known as Outsource Group in Abuja. It provides call center services to companies and organizations who want to outsource their customer care. The Abuja call center for example services the Nigerian Communications Commission among other clients. During a visit by U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Stuart Symington, Amal revealed that the call center also serves clients in the United States of America. While touring the company with the United States Ambassador, Amal said that the center in Abuja has outsourced the 170 seats it has. They plan to provide 1,000 seats by the end of 2017 including expanding to Lagos and Kaduna. This will mean employment for about 4,000 people since they will run in three shifts. Ambassador Symington was impressed with the company and what they have achieved over the years. He said it was important because it was addressing one of Nigeria’s most important issues- employment. He suggested that Amal network with other women especially those who face the cultural and gender issues she encountered. In all, Amal is an inspiring example of what women can achieve despite the obstacles. Coming from a conservative Fulani Muslim background, she has become a successful entrepreneur in her chosen field. (This article first appeared on the official blog of the United States of America Embassy Nigeria)