Photos: Egypt follows Bangalore's offshore lead

With the average Egyptian earning just over £1.50 per day it is no surprise that the country's 250,000 graduates are jumping at the chance of working in call centres where salaries for those with foreign language skills are around £200 to £250 per month.

Here at the Xceed call centre they receive 18,000 applications per vacant position and riot police were needed to control the crowds at a recent recruitment day.

The strong tradition of foreign language schools in Egypt puts the country in a good position to support English-speaking and European customers, while call centre staff are also given weekly newsletters and the latest DVD movies for the country account they are working on.

Adel Danish, chairman and CEO of Xceed, told silicon.com: "Egypt can be for Europe what India is to the US."

Photo: Andy McCue