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Egypt Strengthens Position as a Top Global Off-shoring Location
October 27, 2009
Egypt owes its past prosperity and glory to being at the crossroads of trade between Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). The country appears on track to regain that prominence via IT through offshore outsourcing including contact centers -- thanks to a well-educated, multilingual, IT-savvy, and affordable workforce, political stability, and excellent communications.
Egypt’s capital, Cairo, has been ranked 7th in the latest “Top 50 Emerging Outsourcing Cities” report conducted by Global Services-Tholons while its equally famous coastal city, Alexandria breaks into top 50 for the first time. This is in the face of growing competition worldwide including from Eastern Europe, the rest of Africa, and Latin America.
The Tholons report aims to outline globally recognized cities that have emerged as outsourcing hot spots, and identifying their ‘specific’ outsourcing offering and particular functions including finance and accounting, healthcare, R&D and testing services. Its analysis jibes with that of A.T. Kearney which placed Egypt top in the EMEA region as an offshoring location and sixth overall in the 2009 A.T. Kearney Global Services Locations index.
“With increased competition among service providers offering similar services, distinction has become difficult to achieve, placing a greater emphasis on location,” says Dr. Hazem Abdelazim, CEO of Egypt’s Information Technology Development Industry Agency (ITIDA). “Businesses are not only looking for cost-effectiveness but are also seeking a location which offers a strong, multi-talented workforce.”
Egypt’s formula is working. Earlier this year Stream announced that is opening a 1,000 seat contact center in Cairo. Xceed, which is based in Egypt and is also located in Cairo will provide customer service and support for Cisco’s (News - Alert) customers and is expected to employ up to 300 agents on Cisco’s program in three years. Cairo is also home to a growing number of regional and international technology vendors including Vodafone, Ericsson, Microsoft and Oracle (News - Alert).
The room to grow is there, and expanding. Smart Village, the Egyptian ICT (information and communications technology) hub located in the suburbs of Cairo, offers facilities for more than 35,000 people. Additional Smart Village offices are being planned for Alexandria to accommodate the countries fast-growing ICT industry, ultimately creating space for over 100,000 ICT personnel.
Offshore and domestic demand enabled Egypt’s ICT industry to grow by 14.6 percent in 2008-2009 reports the IDITA. That in turn helped Egypt’s economy to expand by 4.7 percent, which is all the more remarkable given the worldwide downturn.
“Investment in the ICT sector has been key to the growth of Egypt’s industry,” adds Dr. Abdelazim. “As a result of this, we have developed Cairo into one of the world’s top outsourcing cities and with Alexandria entering the list, it’s clear to see the benefits this investment is having on attracting new companies to Egypt.”
Egypt’s capital, Cairo, has been ranked 7th in the latest “Top 50 Emerging Outsourcing Cities” report conducted by Global Services-Tholons while its equally famous coastal city, Alexandria breaks into top 50 for the first time. This is in the face of growing competition worldwide including from Eastern Europe, the rest of Africa, and Latin America.
The Tholons report aims to outline globally recognized cities that have emerged as outsourcing hot spots, and identifying their ‘specific’ outsourcing offering and particular functions including finance and accounting, healthcare, R&D and testing services. Its analysis jibes with that of A.T. Kearney which placed Egypt top in the EMEA region as an offshoring location and sixth overall in the 2009 A.T. Kearney Global Services Locations index.
“With increased competition among service providers offering similar services, distinction has become difficult to achieve, placing a greater emphasis on location,” says Dr. Hazem Abdelazim, CEO of Egypt’s Information Technology Development Industry Agency (ITIDA). “Businesses are not only looking for cost-effectiveness but are also seeking a location which offers a strong, multi-talented workforce.”
Egypt’s formula is working. Earlier this year Stream announced that is opening a 1,000 seat contact center in Cairo. Xceed, which is based in Egypt and is also located in Cairo will provide customer service and support for Cisco’s (News - Alert) customers and is expected to employ up to 300 agents on Cisco’s program in three years. Cairo is also home to a growing number of regional and international technology vendors including Vodafone, Ericsson, Microsoft and Oracle (News - Alert).
The room to grow is there, and expanding. Smart Village, the Egyptian ICT (information and communications technology) hub located in the suburbs of Cairo, offers facilities for more than 35,000 people. Additional Smart Village offices are being planned for Alexandria to accommodate the countries fast-growing ICT industry, ultimately creating space for over 100,000 ICT personnel.
Offshore and domestic demand enabled Egypt’s ICT industry to grow by 14.6 percent in 2008-2009 reports the IDITA. That in turn helped Egypt’s economy to expand by 4.7 percent, which is all the more remarkable given the worldwide downturn.
“Investment in the ICT sector has been key to the growth of Egypt’s industry,” adds Dr. Abdelazim. “As a result of this, we have developed Cairo into one of the world’s top outsourcing cities and with Alexandria entering the list, it’s clear to see the benefits this investment is having on attracting new companies to Egypt.”
Brendan B. Read is TMCnet’s Senior Contributing Editor. To read more of Brendan’s articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Patrick Barnard
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