UAE moves up Kearney’s 2023 Global Services Location Index

UAE moves up Kearney’s 2023 Global Services Location Index

The UAE continues to improve on its global ranking, moving up four spots on the Global Services Location Index (GSLI) list this year to 21st place, while Jordan, KSA, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Lebanon all join the list for the first time.

Global management consultancy Kearney, which has published its 12th edition of GSLI, studies the vital factors that make countries attractive as potential locations for offshore services.

Home to more than 4,000 start-ups across Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, along with multiple free zones, the UAE is emerging as a technology hub for the Middle East and Africa. When it comes to talent regeneration, two dimensions contribute to the scoring: the intensity of technology innovation and the focus on digital skill enhancement, areas where the UAE is focusing significant energy and investment which is paying off. The UAE talent regeneration, combined with the country’s scale and its relations with nearby countries, will all help it to become the location of choice for nearshoring.

The talent regeneration matrix

A key trend in this year’s GSLI is the criticality of talent regeneration. With the emergence and adoption of digital technologies, cost-centric service locations are at risk of losing their competitiveness to more developed and technologically