Egypt has won the prestigious title of Outsourcing Destination of the Year at the National Outsourcing Association’s 2008 Awards held in London, beating rivals Philippines and Romania to the accolade.
Dr. Hazem Abdelazim, CEO of Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency, (ITIDA), received the award on behalf of his government at the ceremony attended by more than 350 high-level executives and outsourcing professionals.
“This award recognizes the vast progress Egypt has made in the outsourcing market,” said Abdelazim. “Egypt is putting its mark on the map of favored global services locations.
“Its young population, large multi-lingual workforce, solid infrastructure and competitive cost structure is fortified by unequivocal government support, making Egypt a compelling destination for outsourcing services.”
According to the judges, Egypt won the award due to its language skills, young population and growing list of global sourcing investments. Companies like Microsoft, Vodafone, Teleperformance and Oracle recognize Egypt as an outsourcing destination for Europe.
Martyn Hart, chairman of the NOA, commented: “The NOA awards celebrate best practice in the outsourcing industry. Our winners have demonstrated excellence in outsourcing and have highlighted the importance of best practice and meeting industry standards. These achievements make an excellent contribution to the Body of Outsourcing Knowledge (the BOOK) that the NOA holds on behalf of the industry.”
The awards acknowledge achievements in IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing, as well as sector specific achievements in telecommunications, finance and utilities.
Recently, the Yankee Group identified Egypt as “by far the Middle Eastern country currently best positioned to take advantage of the boom in outsourcing”. Cairo was also awarded seventh position in a study prepared by Global Services-Tholons on the top 50 emerging outsourcing cities in 2008 . A.T. Kearney, the leading consultancy firm, also placed the country 13th in its 2007 Global Services Location Index .
