Egypt seeks IT support to tap offshoring - Emirates Business 24|7

Egypt seeks IT support to tap offshoring - Emirates Business 24|7

Egypt is seeking more support from firms such as IBM to improve technology teaching at its schools so it can expand an offshoring industry that could generate $10 billion a year by 2020, a senior official said.

Offshored operations, such as technical support and call centres, now bring in $1 billion a year for Egypt, which wants to win a bigger slice of the global business as shrinking populations and high costs in Europe encourage a shift abroad.

But despite some success, foreign investors often complain of a skills gap in Egypt and say they have to pay a premium to secure recruits with the right technical and language skills.

"If you look at Europe it is known demographically they have a shortage of availability of human capital at a certain point in time," Amin Khaireldin, strategy adviser to the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), said.