CAIRO - 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), told Reuters. "Either you do offshoring-outsourcing services, or you import people. European countries do not want to import people." Oracle, Microsoft and Stream Global Service established businesses in Egypt in the past five years, drawn partly by cheap labour, government incentives and relatively stable telecoms infrastructure. Khaireldin said the target of generating $10 billion from offshoring by 2020 was still preliminary. "But the challenge the minister is asking me now (is) to design a programme for 10 billion, instead of a billion," he added. To encourage this, ITIDA - a Communications Ministry body set up to promote and nurture the offshoring industry - started a $10-12 million a year programme in 2008 to teach university students English, Microsoft software and other skills. The EduEgypt programme trained 3,000 students this year, and will train 8,000 or more next year, ITIDA information showed. Within a few years, EduEgypt will be replaced by a broader programme that includes curriculum developed in part by IBM, Khaireldin said in an interview late on Monday. ITIDA also arranges consultation for local firms to help them meet global quality standards, finances non-governmental organisations and has a fund to invest in start-ups. Such efforts should help Egypt win a bigger slice of the global offshoring industry, estimated to reach $650 billion by 2012, Khaireldin said. "The demand, worldwide, is growing," he said. "(It's) a huge market, growing, and we can participate and take a share." ITIDA is also pushing to open more call centres, such as a 1,000-seat centre in Cairo that opened in March. Egypt's next centre is due to open in the port city of Alexandria this month, and ITIDA is aiming to get a commitment for another one by the end of the year, Khaireldin said. Offshoring in Egypt is much smaller than in India and the Philippines, but it is one of Egypt's fastest growing sectors.
