"Why Egypt?" is always a focal question when it comes to promoting Egypt as an IT hub. To us here, the answers are clear: Egypt offers an abundance of talent at a competitive cost, is in a pivotal geographic location, has the privilege of a supportive government, and has an inspiring IT innovation ecosystem. Importantly, the answers to this question are what drives ITIDA in guiding the global ITS, BPS and KPS industries to realize their business ambitions.

The past few years, Egypt has seen a well-deserved increase in global appeal for investors; something that gives me pride, personally. More so, this year, ITIDA launched a new incentive scheme for foreign investments to build on the momentum and propel the sector on a higher growth trajectory. Egypt has an impressive talent pool, but what is also has is a grand population with an incredible amount of untapped potential, and this is what ITIDA aims to proactively develop. As part of the new digital strategy that positions Egypt as an attractive choice for offshoring, one of our goals is to add 215,000 jobs with a focus on high-end value services. But it isn't just a number: the Egyptian workforce, their determination and ambition, and every single individual talent – those are who we aim to foster and invest in.

Take for example CX delivery : Egypt has a reputation for being one of the world's strongest multilingual customer delivery locations. Having the largest multilingual talent pool in the Middle East and second largest in EMEA surely helps, but the feedback we love to get is that the market's key differentiators are the Egyptian people's spirit, willingness, and sense of commitment. These are the same characteristics that have had young, talented Egyptians wake up every morning and put their best foot forward in the past decade – so it should come as a no surprise that the workforce here are an integral part of what Egypt brings to the global table.

This focus on talent is proudly at the heart of ITIDA's new digital strategy for Egypt's offshoring: 

1) ecosystem development that enhances engagement with existing investors and talent in support of local company development and overall future growth, and 

2) talent development by developing new and strengthening current upskilling programs for both student and employed pools. Consequently, this is part of what forms the basis for the new incentive scheme. It offers annual reimbursement on operating expenses per new hire, unified for both new and existing partner investors, as well as allowing investors the opportunity and autonomy to make optimal use of the incentives through the scheme's focus on reducing fully loaded operating costs and FTE.

Equally, one of our top priorities is also developing long-standing, fruitful partnerships with our investors. ITIDA is at the advantage of excellently providing support to companies providing offshore delivery of services from Egypt logistically through market intelligence and due diligence support, access to talent, an investor aftercare program, and more.

When a talent pool is developed, it pushes a country forward. When that country is as central as Egypt, it causes a global ripple effect. And this is my personal answer to "Why Egypt?"

If you're in Orlando and would like to hear more about the opportunities and struggles companies go through to acquire high-skilled calibres to the GBS industry, I'll be speaking at a session in SSOW titled The Talent Battlefield on the 24^th of March at 11 AM.

written by Eng. Hazem Nabil, ITIDA VP