LONDON, October 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Egypt was awarded the prestigious title of Outsourcing Destination of the Year at the National Outsourcing Association's 2008 Awards held in London, beating rivals Philippines and Romania to the accolade.
The CEO of Egypt's Information Technology Industry Development Agency, (ITIDA) Dr. Hazem Abdelazim, received the award on behalf of his government during a glamorous ceremony at the Park Plaza Riverbank.
More than 350 high-level executives and outsourcing professionals attended the event, hosted by comedian presenter Dominic Holland.
This award recognises the vast progress Egypt has made in the outsourcing market, said Abdelazim. Egypt is slowly but surely putting its mark on the map of favored global services locations. Its young population, a large multi-lingual workforce, a solid infrastructure and a competitive cost structure is fortified by unequivocal government support, making Egypt a compelling destination for outsourcing services.
According to the judges, Egypt won the award due to its language skills, young population and growing list of global sourcing investments. It has soared in the popularity stakes in the last few years as an offshore destination for Europe.
Martyn Hart, chairman of the NOA, commented: At the NOA we strive to raise awareness of best practice in the outsourcing industry - the awards are core to this strategy. Our winners and the runners-up have ably demonstrated excellence in outsourcing and have highlighted the importance of best practice and standards being met in the industry. These achievements make an excellent contribution to the Body of Outsourcing Knowledge (the BOOK) that the NOA holds on behalf of the industry.
The awards, which are in their fifth year, aim to reward organisations for success in outsourcing projects, as well as raising awareness of the importance of best practice in outsourcing. The awards acknowledge achievements in IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing, as well as sector specific achievements in telecommunications, finance and utilities.
Recently, Egypt was praised as by far the Middle Eastern country currently best positioned to take advantage of the boom in outsourcing in a report by the Yankee Group(1). Cairo was also awarded seventh position in a study prepared by Global Services-Tholons on the top 50 emerging outsourcing cities in 2008(2). A.T. Kearney, the leading consultancy firm, also placed the country 13th in its 2007 Global Services Location Index(3).
The growing list of multinationals investing in Egypt, including Vodafone, Wipro, Satyam, Teleperformance, IBM, Microsoft, SQS and Valeo, is another testament to the country's unwavering efforts to establish itself as a modern business location.
Notes to editors:
The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) is a governmental entity affiliated to Egypt's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. It is responsible for growing and developing Egypt's position as a leading global outsourcing location by attracting foreign direct investment to the industry and maximising the exports of IT services and applications.
Located in the heart of the modern business environment at Smart Village, the six hundred acre business park on the outskirts of Cairo, ITIDA is a self sustainable entity that drives the IT industry in Egypt and raises awareness among the Egyptian people of the benefits and use of ICT to advance socio-economic welfare of the whole community.
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(1) Yankee Group Research Inc., Can Middle Eastern Countries Fulfill the Eastern Promise, July 2008
(2) Top 50 Emerging Outsourcing Cities, A Global Services-Tholons Study, October 2008
(3) A.T. Kearney, Global Services Location Index 2007
Contact details: Catherine Jones, Hill Knowlton for ITIDA, T: +44(0)20-7413-3725, E: catherine.jones@hillandknowlton.com
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