In August, Egypt sent a delegation to India to try and get the IT superpower to sub-outsource to it. Several trade agreements were signed, and two Indian IT biggies, Wipro and Satyam, announced their plans to set up support centers in various parts of Egypt. Satyam already has operations in Cairo.
Egypt is targeting a $1.1 billion growth in the outsourcing industry by 2010, according to the Yankee group. And it is depending on Cairo to help it get there. Cairo is the country’s main hub of IT and BPO services, and is home to companies like Alcatel, Ericsson, Microsoft, and Vodafone.
The city also houses the Call Center Academy, a government funded institute that gets 800 to 1,000 people ready for employment every year. The government has also invested in a Smart Village, a 600-acres ICT business park, 20 minutes from Cairo. Cairo has long been the hub of education not only for Egypt but also for the Arab world. Al-Azhar University, Cairo University and Ain Shams University are the three major universities. Moreover, call-center outsourcing to Cairo is 20 to 30 percent cheaper than to India.
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Egypt: quick take
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Currency: EGP (US $1 = 5.68 EGP)
Time zone: GMT +2
Languages: Arabic, English, French
International airport:
Cairo International Airport
GDP (official exchange rate):
$85.37 billion (2006 est.)
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Service Providers in Cairo
| Ahlan Contact Center |
Mellon |
| AlliedSoft |
Raya Contact Center |
| C3 |
Satyam |
| Ecco |
Tamima |
| IBM |
Teleperformance |
| Xceed Contact Center |
Alawy |
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The government is also taking initiatives to build IT workforce capacity. One of those initiatives is a pact inked between the IT Institute of Cairo and NIIT of India in Nov. 2006. Under the deal, NIIT will provide IT education programs. Last year, Cairo University also signed a letter of intent with a Chinese educational delegation to set up a Confucius Institute to promote Chinese language and culture.
The Greater Cairo Metropolitan area is the major urban, industrial and financial agglomeration in Egypt. Professional and technical staff represent 25.4 percent of the city’s working population.
Despite all action around the city, Cairo suffers from infrastructure problems such as a half completed Ring Road. The Egyptian government estimates the need for $1.7 billion investments on major roads constructions.
The government is also trying to attract foreign companies by offering five to 10-year tax exemptions.
Q&A
Ossama Nazmi
Sales and Marketing Director, Xceed Contact Center, Cairo
"Currently 70% of outsourced work to Egypt comes from local clients. By 2010 this trend will reverse, with 65% of agents servicing foreign end-users"
What does Xceed offer?
Xceed started off as an IT Consultancy in 2001. Now it also offers inbound and outbound integrated customer-contact solutions like database management, direct response management, helpdesk and technical support, research services, telemarketing services, and customer relationship management services.
Some of our clients include Global Fortune 500 companies like Oracle, Microsoft Europe, GM, Videotron, Du, Alcatel and HP.
Which regions do you service from your Cairo center?
We have customers from France, U.S., U.K., Italy, Spain, Belgium, U.A.E., Qatar, Bahrain, Portugal, Greece and Egypt.
Why should foreign companies go to Cairo?
The Ministry of Communication & IT is trying to attract foreign companies with special focus on call centers. So, any overseas customer who invests in Cairo or anywhere in Egypt gets a tax holiday of five to 10 years. Moreover, the cost of labor is low. A voice-based agent earns about $3.20 per hour whereas a multichannel agent gets about $3.40 per hour.
What about attrition?
Our attrition rate is quite low; we stand at 28 percent.
What challenges do call centers in Cairo face?
Misconception about political risks and stability are the major challenges faced by the call-center industry here, particularly while pitching as an outsourcing nation.
Moreover, mostly local companies in Egypt are currently outsourcing, and global companies are not aware of the benefits they can get from outsourcing to Egypt.
But by 2010 this trend will reverse, with 65 percent of agents servicing foreign end-users.
