According to reports and studies, Egypt could rise to be the next leader in the outsourcing front, particularly with reference to the Middle Eastern, African and European market. There are a few reasons to believe why this could be likely.
First of all, the claim stems from the fact that more work is being outsourced from Europe than North America in the wake of a recession that roiled international markets. Since the U.S. took the biggest hit during the economic downturn, spurned by the housing recession and the ensuing subprime mortgage and credit crises, the U.S. is unlikely to play a big part in outsourcing in the near future.
Hence, Indian firms like Wipro and Infosys have already begun to target the European markets as an alternative market than the U.S. Although the big giants in outsourcing like India and the Philippines are already booking big contracts, analysts say that Egypt has a unique edge over its rivals in Asia.
To start with, last year alone, the outsourcing industry booked about $13 billion in value, said a spokesperson from Vodafone, Denise D’Elia. But she also added that though Egypt is well poised to take advantage of a significant market share, it still has some fine tuning to do to emerge as a global leader in outsourcing.
One of the advantages favoring the Middle Eastern nation is that it boasts the third biggest number of skilled employees in the region – including Europe, Africa and the Middle East. This is largely due to the growing number of talent in the country that is educated and below 25 years of age. While most of the world’s elderly population is growing, Egypt has a considerable advantage in that half of its population is below 25.
There is still a lot more the country will have to achieve before it can compete with top outsourcing countries like India.
Vodafone outsources to Egypt and staffs graduates who have an academic background in engineering, commerce, and industry. By coincidence, Egypt has a good percentage of people graduating in these areas. Egyptians also have a strong affinity toward European languages, making the country an ideal place to outsource work from Europe.
Egypt also has a cost advantage in comparison with outsourcing to India. The ITDA survey reveals that Egypt offers exceptional cost based value from several viewpoints, including staffing and non-staffing points of view. In addition, the government is supporting the industry in order to drive outsourcing as a major sector in the country. This has helped the industry a great deal, according to experts like D’Elia.
Leave Your Comments