Egypt

Maggi Dewedar: Egypt has become incredibly attractive for both European and North American clients, and there are some solid reasons why. First, there's an abundance of highly qualified labor at very competitive rates. Egypt has a young population—about 70% are working age—and most are university graduates. Plus, with the Egyptian pound where it is, labor costs are actually lower than the Philippines or South Africa, and often match or beat India. What really sets Egypt apart though is the language capability. Most BPO markets specialize in one or two languages at most. In Egypt, we can offer up to 20 languages. That's significant for clients who want to consolidate operations instead of spreading them across multiple countries. It simplifies their setup and cuts costs considerably.

Maggi Dewedar: Egyptians are quite diversified culturally, and we've been heavily influenced by both European and North American culture. Part of that comes from our close proximity to Europe. But it's also media influence from North America, plus we have a lot of European and American universities and schools here. All of that combined with our neutral accent and multilingual capabilities makes it easier for our agents to connect with customers from these markets. Beyond that natural affinity, we also take cultural training seriously. When we onboard agents for a new offshore client, we go deep on the country we're serving, studying its geography, holidays, major events, sports, even slang that agents might encounter during transactions. It's standard practice for us. That combination of cultural exposure and dedicated training gives us a real edge over other cost-efficient destinations, whether they’re in Asia or even other African countries.

Maggi Dewedar: The Egyptian government has put serious effort into improving infrastructure, and we've seen real progress on basic utilities like electricity and water, as well as IT infrastructure. But we still need more work, especially on home internet quality. A lot of the new generation and qualified talent want work-from-home options, and we're absolutely open to that. It makes sense from a cost efficiency standpoint and gives us access to a much wider pool of candidates. The other area that needs attention is visibility. Egypt needs better publicity as an outsourcing destination. We need to showcase our capabilities and service quality to the world, especially relative to cost. ITIDA—the Information Technology Industry Development Agency—is focusing on exactly this in the coming period. They're working to promote the market and raise global awareness about what Egyptian companies can deliver.