Competitive costs and multilingual workforce: Morocco's keys to becoming a global outsourcing hub
Outsourcing has become a key activity in Morocco in recent years. Many multinationals such as Amazon, Bosch, SAP, Oracle, HP, Dell, PwC, Capgemini, Deloitte and IBM have entrusted the country with outsourcing some of their processes, and not necessarily the most basic ones.
Morocco is currently the second largest African outsourcing platform, according to the index compiled by AT Kearney in 2023. The country has risen 12 places since the 2022 index and is among the seven that have improved the most.
According to the AT Kearney report, its cost competitiveness and multilingual workforce (English, French and Spanish), together with a renewed focus on digital training, have improved the country's prospects for hosting technology-related business operations.
In addition, as the consultancy notes, the government plans to invest millions of pounds in the outsourcing sector to generate approximately 5,000 new jobs by the end of 2026.
The latest available figures, provided by AMDIE, reveal that the sector generates £1.9 billion annually in export revenue, has more than 1,200 international companies as clients and provides more than 130,000 permanent jobs.
Infrastructure dedicated to outsourcing
As proof of Morocco's strong commitment to this sector, and in line with the provisions of the new Investment Charter, the country has up to five parks dedicated specifically to outsourcing, spread across its national territory:
- Rabat Technopolis: covers 107 hectares and has more than 300,000 square metres of office space.
- Casablanca Nearshore: 52 hectares and more than 400,000 square metres of office space.
- Tetouan Shore: 454 hectares and more than 200,000 square metres of office space.
- Oujda Shore: 60 hectares and more than 20,000 square metres of office space.
- Fès Shore: 20 hectares and 30,000 square metres for offices.
Advantages
Morocco has very competitive labour costs compared to other rival countries in the sector, such as Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland and Turkey. Added to this are the significant incentives provided for in the Investment Charter:
- Rebate of up to 30% of capital expenditure.
- Corporation tax exemption for five years.
- Income tax limited to 20% of gross taxable income.
- State contribution to employee training costs.
The result of this policy is the creation of a number of specialised centres by major international companies: the Capgemini Engineering Centre, the Lear Corporation Electrification Centre of Excellence and the Stellantis Africa Technical Centre.