Association of Outsourcing Professionals of Nigeria (AOPN)
Definition
Association of Outsourcing Professionals of Nigeria (AOPN)
The Association of Outsourcing Professionals of Nigeria (AOPN) is Nigeria’s outsourcing trade body. It speaks for firms that run voice, tech and back office work, sets shared standards, and sells the country to buyers in Europe, the Gulf and the US.
AOPN traces its origin to the Bridges across Borders Conference of October 2008, organised by the International Trade Centre with African service-sector associations. The push to register a Nigerian outsourcing association started there.
Today AOPN sits at the same table as federal agencies, universities and foreign investors. Its remit runs from policy advocacy and skills accreditation to trade missions that pitch Nigeria against Manila, Bangalore and Cape Town for buyer attention.
Dr Austin Nweze served as AOPN president from 2012 to 2018, six years of continuity for a young trade body. The sector it speaks for — anchored in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt — grew alongside a young, English-speaking labour pool.
Key takeaways
- AOPN is Nigeria’s national trade body for outsourcing and shared service firms.
- Its remit spans outsourced business processes, IT services, contact centres and back office delivery.
- The association traces its origin to the Bridges across Borders Conference of October 2008.
- Dr Austin Nweze served as AOPN president from 2012 to 2018.
- Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt anchor most member operations.
How it works
AOPN runs as a member-funded association with a small secretariat, standing committees and an annual industry summit. Providers pay dues, join task groups on policy or workforce skills, and share access to tenders, benchmarks and international partnerships.
Members typically fall into four buckets: business process outsourcing (BPO) shops, IT vendors, call center operators, and niche providers doing knowledge or legal process work. The mix skews toward voice support and back office admin.
Here is how AOPN’s core activities break down:
| Activity | What it delivers | Who benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Policy advocacy | Tax, visa and data-protection lobbying | Members and government |
| Skills accreditation | Training curricula and certification | Members and universities |
| Trade missions | Buyer meetings abroad | Export-ready firms |
| Industry data | Sector reports and salary benchmarks | Members and investors |
| Annual summit | Member networking and buyer briefings | Members and prospective clients |
| Tender access | Shared visibility of contracts in play | Small and mid-tier members |
The secretariat coordinates working groups and the board sets strategic direction. Committee chairs rotate between large providers and mid-tier firms, so smaller members aren’t drowned out of the policy conversation.
Accreditation is the least glamorous piece and the most useful one. Training curricula, assessor panels and certification marks give a Lagos floor manager something to hire against, and give a foreign buyer something to audit.
Funding is the constraint behind all of it. Dues from a modest membership base pay for a modest secretariat, so AOPN runs on working groups staffed by member employees rather than a large professional team.
Examples
AOPN member firms employ tens of thousands of agents across Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. Named operators run voice and back office work for banks, telecoms and e-commerce clients across Africa, Europe and North America.
Nigeria’s outsourcing scene is small next to India or the Philippines but climbing fast, with sector revenue rising since 2020 by industry estimates. iSON Xperiences, Outsource Global and Contact Solutions Africa anchor the visible end of it.
Take Outsource Global, headquartered in Abuja. It employs several thousand agents delivering customer service, collections and finance support for UK and US clients.
Its growth tracks AOPN’s push to position Nigeria as a third African option beside South Africa and Kenya, rather than a curiosity at the bottom of a shortlist.
iSON Xperiences runs contact centre operations across several African countries with a large Nigerian base, and its client list skews toward pan-African telecom operators. That telco concentration is the dependency AOPN’s diversification push targets.
Contact Solutions Africa serves fintech and e-commerce accounts — proof the sector has moved beyond legacy telco work. The shift matters to buyers, because a floor built for fintech workflows prices and staffs differently from a telco queue.
AOPN’s trade-mission programme sends delegations to buyer events in London, Dubai and New York. Those missions chase foreign direct investment (FDI) and cross-border service contracts that would otherwise skip Nigeria entirely.
Scale is the argument AOPN sells hardest. Nigeria’s working-age population sits over 110 million, the one number that puts the country in the same conversation as much older delivery markets.
Nigeria’s tertiary system graduates hundreds of thousands of students annually, giving members a pipeline of English-speaking, degree-holding recruits — the raw material any outsourcing hub needs to scale.
The prize is large. Gartner’s April 2026 forecast put global IT spending at $6.31 trillion in 2026, and AOPN wants Nigerian providers on a bigger share of it.
Related terms
These terms map the services AOPN members sell, the delivery models they sell them under, and the capital and hiring that feed them. They cover the sector vocabulary buyers meet when they shortlist a Nigerian provider, not Nigeria’s tax or company law.
- Business Process Outsourcing (BPO): the umbrella of contracted business functions most AOPN members deliver.
- Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO): the IT services slice of Nigeria’s outsourcing mix.
- Contact Center: the customer-facing voice and chat operation that dominates Lagos delivery floors.
- Offshoring: the cross-border delivery model AOPN promotes to Western buyers.
- Nearshore Outsourcing: the regional variant relevant to African buyers eyeing Nigerian vendors.
- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): the capital inflows AOPN pursues through its trade-mission programme.
- Talent Acquisition: the hiring engine feeding member firms in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
FAQ
What does AOPN stand for?
AOPN stands for the Association of Outsourcing Professionals of Nigeria, the national industry body representing outsourcing and shared service providers in the country. Its own site styles the name as the Association For Outsourcing Professionals Of Nigeria.
Who can join AOPN?
Membership covers outsourcing firms, IT vendors, contact centre operators and adjacent suppliers based in Nigeria. Government agencies and universities often take part as observers. Committee seats are the practical draw for most joining firms.
Why does AOPN matter to global buyers?
It gives buyers one accountable point of contact for compliance, workforce quality and vendor discovery. That single window cuts the risk of picking a Nigerian partner blind. Buyers can check a provider’s standing before a shortlist rather than after a failed pilot.
How does AOPN compare with IBPAP or NASSCOM?
AOPN is younger and smaller than the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) or India’s NASSCOM, but plays a similar role in lobbying, accreditation and export promotion. Nigeria’s edge is demographic scale rather than sector maturity.
What sectors do AOPN members serve?
Financial services, telecoms, e-commerce and public-sector back office work dominate the client mix. Voice support for UK and US buyers still generates the largest share of member revenue. Collections and finance support fill out the back office side.
Where can I learn more about Nigerian outsourcing?
The Ultimate Guide to Outsourcing covers country comparisons, models and pricing, and you can browse all outsourcing key terms or read more about Outsource Accelerator.
Weighing Nigeria against Manila, Bangalore or Bogotá? Start with Outsource Accelerator to compare delivery markets, models and partners in one place.
Independent
