The Vice Minister for Digital Transformation, Automation and Administrative Development
Khaled El Attar has delivered a speech on behalf of the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr
Talaat, during the opening ceremony of the Shared Services and Outsourcing Forum Middle East 2019.
The Forum is hosted by the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and organized by the Shared
Services and Outsourcing Network (SSON).
In the speech, Talaat underlined that the outsourcing industry is one of the biggest industries, worldwide, and a
key pillar of the ICT sector. He added that Egypt is one of the largest hubs of transboundary outsourcing and IT
services; it was able to attract many international companies to establish specialized centers in Egypt.
In addition, the ICT Minister stated that work is underway to develop this industry, in light of the approach to
provide high-value added technological services, and the need to establish a powerful data centers industry.
He referred to Egypt’s competitive advantages, including having a supportive legislative environment and a large
pool of talents capable of providing IT services in different languages. This is in addition to the competitive
operation costs, as well as the enabling environment for encouraging local and international companies to expand
their business and create more job opportunities in this sector.
Moreover, Talaat highlighted that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) is working hard
to create an enabling environment for promoting the IT outsourcing industry, through developing the ICT
infrastructure. This is in addition to establishing technology parks in different governorates, thus encouraging
companies to establish Research and Development (R&D) and shared services centers in Egypt.
Furthermore, MCIT is implementing a number of initiatives in cooperation with international organizations to provide
direct and online training programs to build youth capacities and hone their skills to meet the industry needs.
MCIT, also, paid great attention to drafting a personal data protection law, in line with the EU General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR).
ITIDA CEO Hala El Gohary, during her speech, stated that hosting the Forum in Cairo affirms Egypt’s leading position
in the IT and shared services global scene.
She referred to ITIDA success story in driving the Egyptian ICT sector’s growth, which started from around USD 150
million exports of those services in 2007, reaching to up to 1.1 billion USD and creating 35,000 jobs in 2010.
Export revenue hit 3.7 billion USD at the end of 2018, with the number of employees in this industry reaching
320,000 young Egyptian calibers.
According to IDC, Egypt is expected to hold more than 16% of the global market share of BPO services by the end of
the year, said Hala, asserting that ITIDA has foreseen the transformation required with the rapid emergence of
disruptive technologies where it invests heavily in building a digital ready workforce and nurturing our strong and
abundant talent pool.
The Forum is held under the patronage of the ICT Minister Amr Talaat. It serves as a platform that brings together
decision makers, including outsourcing services providers and companies relying on these services.
The Forum discusses a number of topics of interest to decision makers in shared services industry. This includes
discussing best practices of successful strategies for choosing service delivery, and shared services centers
locations.
