Plovdiv – one of the fastest growing destinations in the outsoursing sector in Southeast Europe, a prerequisite for its rapid transformation into a leading center among non-capital cities.
As the second outsourcing destination in Bulgaria, the city has serious potential for development, which is confirmed by the constant investments in the sector and rising amount of new entrants in the city. According to lates AIBEST data, there are 41 HQ and 59 secondary offices in Plovdiv. For comparison, the data for the previous year were 39 and 51 respectively, 34 and 40 (for 2020), and 32 and 39 (for 2019). According to AIBEST there are over 10 000 specialists employed in the sector in the two leading non-capital cities Plovdiv and Varna. However, Plovdiv Municipality data shows that there are over 7000 employed in the IT&BPO sector for 2021 in Plovdiv alone.
Investors from 62 countries are represented in the sourcing industry in the region. The Netherlands, Germany, the USA and the UK are home to the majority owners of 43% of all SEE companies with foreign ownership. The picture is similar in Plovdiv, where some of the largest IT and outsourcing companies are American, Dutch, German, English, but there is also a favorable start-up culture, expressed in the strong growth of local companies.
Another key finding presented in the report is the growth in the generated aggregate operating revenue (at the SEE level), which for 2020 amounts to EUR 10.7 billion, an increase of 4.9% on an annual basis. An interesting factor is the significant advantage that the ITO sector has over BPO. In 2020 the companies in the ITO segment in SEE were 1182 and BPO just over 830, which is indicative of the significant pool of IT talent available in the region. Logically, the annual turnover in the ITO is also higher than that of BPO, EUR 5.7 billion, while BPO recorded operating revenues of EUR 5.0 billion. ITO also grew at a faster rate of 6.8% during the year, while BPO increased by 2.9% in 2020.
You can read more about the outsourcing industry in the AIBEST report here: SEE SOURCING INDUSTRY REPORT
