The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is one of the most rapidly emerging economic sectors in Lebanon. International businesses in the BPO sector are able to take advantage of the country’s business environment produce a professional yet cost efficient servicing through a multilingual and highly skilled labor force. 

KEY FACTS AND FIGURES:

• The Lebanese landscape for business process outsourcing includes three major subsectors of activity: Call centers, Back office operations (mainly in Finance, Accounting and HR), and ITO (information technology outsourcing). An estimated 200 companies are currently involved in these activities.

• Of those, 10 operate call centers. These call centers alone employ around 900 employees and have the capacity to create ample job opportunities if the sector expands.

• Companies involved in ITO form the majority of enterprises in the sector and employ around 4143 employees.

• In total, the sector employs an estimated 5050 employees. More than 90% of these employees are in high value-added services, from call center activities –regarded as the entry level into the sector - to highly technical software design tasks.

• Business services are provided to an array of industries; namely IT, Insurance, Banking, FMCG, Telecom, & Retail. Services offered include but are not limited to: Sales & Marketing, Customer Care, Technical Support, Transaction Processing, Finance & Accounting, as well as HR consultancy.

• Lebanese call centers, as well as international call centers operating in Lebanon, have equally accumulated a track record of international clients including Samsung, Orange Telecom, Nestle, Toshiba, SFR, HP, Cisco Learning Academy, and many others.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES:

• Internationally renowned educational system: Lebanon ranks 19th worldwide for the Quality of its Educational System, and 6th worldwide for the Quality of its Math and Science Education for the 2014-2015 period.
• Cost-competitive & highly skilled workforce: Lebanon provides a pool of readily available, highly skilled, and most importantly tri-lingual labor. This workforce is also highly competitive with labor prices nearly 40% less than in the GCC economies and nearly 50% lower than in selected developed economies.
• Enabling infrastructure:

• Lebanon is ranked 2nd in the region with regards to the digital access index. The DAI Index measures the overall ability of individuals in a country to access and use new ICT.

• Global companies, especially American and East Asian, will benefit from a time zone advantage given the geographical location of Lebanon.

• Abundant A-class office space is available in both the capital and regional cities offering prime infrastructure, connectivity, and a vibrant business environment for international companies.

• Supportive government: The government offers various types of support and guidance to companies involved in BPO activities. The Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL) offers information and facilitation while the Ministry of Telecommunications is highly active on the regulatory front and facilitates the issuance of licenses to call centers.