The opening of a new regional delivery facility in New Cairo by U.S.-based outsourcing group InteLogix highlights a subtle shift in Egypt’s business process outsourcing (BPO) sector. Foreign investors, long focused on establishing greenfield delivery hubs, are beginning to leverage targeted local acquisitions to secure immediate operational footprints.

The launch follows InteLogix’s acquisition of Athear, a local contact center operator established in 2015. By absorbing Athear’s existing infrastructure, the Utah-headquartered company plans to scale its Cairo workforce from 135 employees to 1,365 over the next three years, deploying artificial intelligence monitoring platforms to support client operations across North America and Europe.

A Maturing Playbook

For over a decade, multinational tech and BPO groups entered Cairo almost exclusively by building greenfield facilities from the ground up. The acquisition of Athear demonstrates how cross-border mergers and acquisitions are offering transatlantic buyers a faster route to operational maturity.

“Companies are no longer making these decisions on the basis of a single advantage,” said Ahmed Elzaher, chief executive of Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA). “The opportunity in Egypt is no longer confined to setting up new delivery centres. Global companies can also invest in established local businesses, build on their capabilities, and connect them to international networks.”

Buy Versus Build Dynamics

Egypt’s digital services exports reached $5.2bn in 2025, driven by a policy shift aimed at moving the sector beyond basic voice services into higher-margin software development, cybersecurity, and data analytics. The broader market continues to draw substantial greenfield capital:

• Konecta: The Spanish CX group is investing $100m to establish a generative AI center of excellence in Cairo, expanding its workforce to 3,000 specialists by 2028.
• Deloitte & EY: Deloitte committed $30m to a local innovation hub, while EY’s regional arm launched a technology center targeting 1,000 specialized roles.
• Coca-Cola HBC: Opened a digital delivery hub that will house 450 software engineers and data scientists by 2027.

Despite the rise of M&A, analysts note that greenfield investment remains the primary route for large multinationals. State incentives provided by ITIDA — such as performance-based export rebates and wage subsidies — are historically structured to reward companies establishing new legal entities and creating net-new jobs. Additionally, acquiring local legacy infrastructure can present integration challenges regarding data compliance and software compatibility.

However, for mid-sized U.S. providers facing tight labor markets at home, acquiring established Egyptian firms eliminates multi-month licensing delays and delivers pre-vetted management teams. As competition for technical talent tightens across Eastern Europe and Asia, Cairo’s blend of lower operating costs and language diversity is turning strategic acquisitions into a viable front for transatlantic expansion.