205: The Top 12 | How Amal Hassan Scaled Outsource Global into Africa’s Top BPO Provider

Nigeria produces over 1M graduates annually. But many of them leave the country because there aren’t enough local jobs to hire them. Amal Hassan wanted to change that. She set out to start a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) contact center that would employ some of these graduates. She started it three different times only to be forced to shut down and relocate. The fourth time was the charm!

In fact, Amal’s living proof of the tenacity required to build, grow, and scale a business. It’s no wonder why her original episode continues to garner downloads and made it to our Top 12 list.

Now, Outsource Global employs over 850 people with clients in the U.S., UK, and Japan with 50% of their workforce being women! They single-handedly put Nigeria on the map as a BPO to contend with on the world stage.

In this episode, Amal gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the quality control measures to select the best people, processes, and tools that sustain Africa’s top Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) provider. If your path to scaling your business seems treacherous, then you don’t won’t to miss this episode – Amal’s story might be just the inspiration you need to keep forging ahead!

Special Guest: Amal Hassan, Founder & CEO – Outsource Global

Location: Mabushi District, Abuja NIGERIA

Air Date: June 5, 2022

Resources

Books:

Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity: a book by Kim Scott.
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal: a book by Ben Mezrich, which inspired The Social Network movie – both offering case studies into the founding and growth of Facebook.
Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone Paperback: a book by Microsoft’s current CEO, Satya Nadella.
Corporate Innovation in the Fifth Era: Lessons from Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft: a book by Matthew C. Le Merle and Alison Davis.

Professional Organizations:

Fortune – U.S. State of Dept. Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership: a public-private partnership that “…connects talented, emerging women leaders from all over the world with members of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Leaders for a three-week-long program.” The program equips the emerging leaders with business and leadership skills, opportunities to expand their networks, and inspiration to pay it forward in their own communities. Learn more in this fact sheet.

Software:

Skype: a telecommunications phone and web-based app offering free voice and video calls along with screen-sharing and recording.

Podcast:

Operational Excellence show – Leading Ladies Series: listen to what happens when Europe’s leading contact centre consultant, Marianne Rutz, interviews Amal, CEO of Africa’s leading contact centre, on Marianne’s podcast.

Articles:

5 Smart Tips for Choosing a Viable Outsourcing Partner: an article by Outsource Global on Medium.com.
Outsource Global Wins Award: an article from The Guardian profiling Outsource global’s receipt of the 2019 Service Exporting Company of the Year Award.

Related Episodes

109: Boosting Customer Experience in Contact Centres with Marianne Rutz

130: How I Scaled My Real Estate Company to the Top 1% – Kathleen Black

166: Operational Excellence and the Business of Agriculture with Sharon Idahosa

202: The Top 12 | How to Create an Operational Excellence Culture in a Tech Startup with Hassan Dantata

Credits

Producer & Host: Alicia Butler Pierre
Podcast Editor: Olanrewaju Adeyemo
Video Editor: Gladys Jimenez
Transcription: Jodie Maquiran
Sponsor: Equilibria, Inc.

Bios

More About Guest, Amal Hassan:
Amal Hassan is a leading Nigerian technopreneur with diverse interests across different technology verticals. In 2003, her passion to unlock Nigeria’s developmental potentials led her to build a series of technology-related businesses to develop talents and create employment for young Nigerians.

In 2013, she founded Outsource Global. Under her leadership, it has emerged as the leading Nigerian contact center provider, servicing the international market and creating employment for over 850 people, 50% of which are women. These efforts transformed the company into a truly global BPO giant and, in the process, put Nigeria on the map for contact center business process outsourcing. The company received an award for Service Export Company Of The Year by Nigerian Export awards 2019.

Amal also sits on the boards of Parkway Projects, Health Station, and Bluetag Group. She is an Alumna of the Fortune-US Department of State Global Women’s Mentoring Program. She was named a Nigerian Star by the Nigerian US Embassy.

More About Host, Alicia Butler Pierre:
Alicia Butler Pierre is the Founder & CEO of Equilibria, Inc. Her career in operations began over 20 years ago while working as an engineer in various chemical plants and oil refineries. She invented the Kasennu™ framework for business infrastructure and authored, Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success. It is the world’s first published book on business infrastructure for small businesses. Alicia hosts the weekly Business Infrastructure podcast with a global audience across 55 countries.

More About Sponsor, Equilibria, Inc.:
Equilibria, Inc. is an operations management firm specializing in business infrastructure for fast-growing organizations. Our mission is to provide access to tips, resources, and proven frameworks that revolutionize the way small businesses operate. We do that through original podcast episodes, blog posts, videos, presentations, workshops, and coaching sessions.