Egypt won the first prize in outsourcing services for 2016, after being selected by the jury of the Global Sourcing Association (GSA) competition.
The award was announced on 6 October in Sofia, Bulgaria, during the GSA Leadership Summit, in the presence of more than 200 prominent leaders of the IT industry and outsourcing services in Europe, North America, and Asia. The summit was previously run by the National Outsourcing Association (NOA) and the European Outsourcing Association (EOA). The NOA was rebranded as the GSA last week.
Egypt exceeded its competitors in the final round, including Sri Lanka, Belarus, and Fiji.
Asmaa Hosni, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), said that Egypt won the award after the jury had studied the portfolio submitted by ITIDA, which showed Egypt’s edge in telecommunications, information technology, and related services.
The portfolio also included a list of the most prominent multinational companies that have expanded their business and injected investments in Egypt during the last period, as well as reference letters signed by these companies explaining the reasons for choosing Egypt. ITIDA also presented a brief about the international reports which highlighted the competitive advantages of Egypt’s information technology sector and its position as the best destination for investments in the field of information technology services.
According to Hosni, the key elements of Egyptian outsourcing are summarised in “the availability of trained multi-lingual manpower, competitive operating costs, attractive business environment, and government support for innovation”.
These elements helped attract more European investments to Egypt and stimulated the existing local and international companies to expand their business and create many job opportunities in the field of outsourcing and achieve high growth rates in this sector.
Hosni said that ITIDA works on the development of local skills in the field of information technology through the Egypt’s Scientists are the Future initiative. It aims to rehabilitate 16,000 Egyptian youth to work in the field of information technology and communication through online training, in cooperation with a number of international companies, Egyptian universities, and educational institutions.
The GSA, located in London, is a centre of excellence in outsourcing services and aims to develop the international outsourcing industry through raising awareness, and improving education, as well as the ongoing development and dissemination of standards, and supporting portfolio of qualifications.
