Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly visited the Smart Village, where he met with five of the largest international companies in the field of information technology and outsourcing services. He was accompanied by Amr Talaat, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology. The Prime Minister emphasized that this visit reflects the government's support and encouragement for foreign direct investment in Egypt, as well as its efforts to boost the export sectors and develop the outsourcing and cross-border information technology industries. The tour started with Pixelogic Media, an American company that provides information technology, digital arts, and multimedia software development services. Pixelogic is a global leader in content localization services for the entertainment industry. It has six centers around the world and serves major Hollywood studios and digital platforms. The company also has a high percentage of female employees, reaching 55%. During the tour, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology said that these five companies employ about 26,000 specialists who export outsourcing services to their clients worldwide from Egypt. The minister added that the outsourcing industry receives unprecedented support from the Egyptian government, which aims to enhance Egypt's competitiveness in research, development, and value-added services. This contributes to accelerating the growth of the knowledge economy, increasing the exports of information technology products and services, and creating more job opportunities for Egyptian youth in various fields of information technology and service-based exports. The minister said that the goal is to reach 550,000 specialists, with export revenues of $9bn by 2026. Talaat pointed out that Egypt has many competitive advantages in the outsourcing field, such as the abundance of technical skills, young talents, multilingualism, competitive operating costs, attractive business environment, and distinguished government support. These factors have attracted more foreign investments in the outsourcing sector and service exports, and have also motivated local and international companies in Egypt to expand their business, create more job opportunities, and achieve growth rates in the sector that make it a strong contributor to the gross domestic product. Ahmed Al-Zaher, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency, said that these companies generate export revenues for Egypt of more than $770m annually, with a value-added of more than 90% in the outsourcing industry. He said that these revenues are expected to grow to more than $9bn annually by the end of 2025, as these companies plan to add about 9,400 additional job opportunities in their centers in Egypt. Al-Zaher explained that these five companies are among 29 international companies that signed agreements with the Information Technology Industry Development Authority last November, in the presence of Madbouly, to open their headquarters in Egypt or increase their investments by expanding their centres' operations in the Egyptian market. These new agreements and contracts aim to provide about 34,000 new job opportunities for Egyptian youth to serve various global markets through 35 centers for these companies that export services to their clients and markets abroad from Egypt. Madbouly's visit to outsourcing industry companies in the Smart Village included the headquarters of Concentrix and Webhelp, the leading American company in the field of providing outsourcing services, business services, and call centres.
