- Egyptian capital, Cairo, has broken into top ten of world's emerging outsourcing cities for first time, moving up four positions from last year, latest Global Services-Tholons study says.
According to study, this is a huge step forward for Egypt, which has not only risen to seventh position in overall ranks, but is also only country from Middle East and north Africa region in this year's listings.
It shows that Egypt is fast becoming one of world's most attractive locations for global outsourcing, with its large, multi-lingual talent pools, high percentage of IT and technical related university graduates, robust infrastructure and low costs, all contributing to its position in top ten of emerging outsourcing hotspots.
Commenting on Egypt's rise in rankings, chief executive officer of Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), Dr Hazem Abdelazim, said, "this is a great step forward for Egypt. Over years, we have been working hard to strengthen our ICT sector and promote Egypt as a leader in global outsourcing industry. This latest study highlights potential Egypt has and developments we have made. This is also reflected in our on-going expansion plans and increased investment we are seeing from major international organisations."
Study combines results from surveys and interviews with key providers, to identify which global cities are set to be next hotspots for outsourcing industry. It looks at a wide range of criteria, including scale and quality of workforce, education, cost, infrastructure, risk profile and quality of life.
It states that of all cities reaching top 50 in report, Egypt is only country to boast Arabic language skills alongside a broad range of European languages.
"It also benefits from presence of many leading global service providers named within report including HP, IBM, Wipro and Satyam. IBM recently extended its commitment to Egypt, signing a three year partnership that will see it establish a nanotechnology research center, develop a services science university curriculum and launch a Global Service Delivery Center based in Egypt," it says.
It further shows that these strengths, combined with improved ranking in report, highlight progress Egypt has made in building a leading outsourcing location. Additionally, according to recent Yankee Group report, it has strongest position in MENA region based on its young population, sustainable and abundant talent pool of technologically skilled and multi-lingual university graduates.
"With government support through ministry of communications and information technology (MCIT) and ITIDA, Egypt has built an entire network to support the growth and development of country's ICT industry. The availability of a qualified multilingual workforce, excellent infrastructure and political stability combined with development of technology and contact center parks in Alexandria and Cairo have all helped attract companies to invest in Egypt," study concludes.
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