I recently spent a very interesting four days in Kenya, visiting Nairobi-based Kencall, the country's first international call centre. During this time, I had plenty of opportunity to discuss with company executives how Kencall is already addressing the needs of major clients in the UK and US and their plans to capture an even greater slice of the market in future, as rising prices (and, to their minds, falling quality) in other geographies pushes such organisations to consider other options for offshoring. 

But what struck me most forcibly during my visit was the commitment, drive and enthusiasm demonstrated by a largely younger generation of workers to this vision of Kenya as a future hub for offshore outsourcing. 

In short, it's an opportunity for them to build careers - and better lives for themselves and their families. Kenyan universities produce some 50,000 graduates per year, but only 5,000 of these are typically able to find work at home, with many forced to look overseas for employment, Dr Bitange Ndemo, permanent secretary of the Kenyan Ministry of Information and Communications told me. 

So it's hardly surprising that, when a local company emerges that offers good salaries, regular incentives and a solid framework for career progression, as Kencall does, there's no shortage of candidates. "Few Kenyan companies do as much as Kencall to promote employees internally," says Pauline Kamande, Kencall's company's head of training, who joined five years ago as a first-level agent.

And Kenya's younger generation of workers, many of whom have studied or worked internationally, have much to offer international clients, with their clear accents and strong work ethic, points out Nicholas Nesbitt, Kencall chief executive.

But I was also struck by a palpable sense of how successive Kenyan governments have let the country's young people down. Following Kenya's disputed election at the end of 2007, a coalition government, cobbled together in February 2008 at the insistence of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, has limped along uncomfortably, hampered by internecine struggles, continued corruption and widespread inefficiency.

Geopolitical uncertainty is never good news for domestic outsourcing ambitions, and it seems clear that many would-be clients may hold back from taking a chance on Kenya until they can be sure that the fragile coalition will hold and that the next general election, due in 2012, will pass off more peacefully.

But from talking to the people who work at Kencall, it's clear that young, middle-class professionals have high hopes that things are changing in Kenya. I was told by several that Kenyan people are more insistent on good customer service these days and less inclined to view bribes and corruption as an unpalatable fact of life, whether they are dealing with businesses or their own government. And the outsourcing business is seen as a platform from which they can showcase their skills and talents in the business arena. "We have a natural ability to deal politely with even the most difficult customers," Kamende told me proudly.

Of course, it still comes as a surprise to many international customers to discover that they are speaking to a call centre agent in Kenya, rather than some of the more usual outsourcing locations. The agents at Kencall regularly get questions about the animals that foreign visitors have seen on safaris ("Do you have lions in your back yard?") and about the prospects of well-known Kenyan runners in forthcoming international sporting events, according to Paula Nyambura, Kencall's head of customer experience.

Above all, it's clear to me from my visit to Nairobi that Kenya has much to offer international outsourcing customers. Political stability remains the one vital ingredient that must be added to the mix if the next generation is to achieve its full potential. But there's no doubt to my mind that this potential is huge.

My thanks to everyone I spoke to at Kencall, who not only showed me incredible generosity and hospitality but also gave me a better insight into how powerful a catalyst for change outsourcing might be for day-to-day life for many in Kenya.

In my next blog, I will write about how the Kenyan government is investing heavily in the country's telecommunications infrastructure, with a view to making its outsourcing vision a reality.