The table below sets out the full benchmark structure. All values are indicative estimates for calendar 2026, expressed in Moroccan dirham with euro approximations, and converted at illustrative reference rates of EUR 1 = MAD 10.9 and USD 1 = MAD 9.6. Non-Moroccan local currency amounts have been restated into MAD for comparability, which means Cairo and Tunis figures carry additional foreign exchange translation risk that Casablanca figures do not.

Three observations follow from the comparison. First, the loading multiple is remarkably stable across all three cities, between roughly 1.77x and 1.83x gross base pay. That stability is useful: it means an investor who can source a reliable local wage band can approximate a fully-loaded cost per bilingual IT support seat with reasonable confidence before commissioning detailed diligence.

Second, Cairo's nominal advantage is real but it is the most volatile of the three. A large share of the gap is a translation effect rather than a productivity effect, and local wage re-pricing in high-inflation conditions can compress the arbitrage within a single contract cycle. Second-order costs also work against Cairo in this model: the higher attrition band adds proportionally more replacement cost per productive seat, which is why its loading multiple is the highest of the three.

Third, Tunis occupies a genuine middle position. It typically offers the deepest native French capability per thousand candidates of the three markets, with employer social charges modelling slightly lower than Casablanca, but it has a thinner pool for high-volume English-plus-French dual staffing and an emigration-driven churn profile that is structural rather than cyclical.

On effective tax, the comparison is deliberately hedged here. Each of the three jurisdictions applies a standard corporate income tax rate alongside preferential regimes for exported services, and Morocco has been running a multi-year convergence of its corporate income tax rates with a distinct treatment for exporters and for companies established in designated financial and industrial acceleration zones. Because we could not ground the exact 2026 rates in a primary source for this note, treat any specific percentage as requiring confirmation with the applicable tax administration and your advisers. The structural point stands regardless of the decimal: for a labour-intensive support centre, the employer payroll wedge and the recoverability of indirect tax on inputs usually move fully-loaded cost per seat more than the headline corporate rate does, because taxable profit is small relative to payroll.

The cost gap is driven by four mechanics, in descending order of materiality.

1. Language scarcity premium. A dual French and English profile with a technical baseline is a narrower pool than either language alone. Casablanca prices that scarcity most visibly because it competes for the same candidates with banking, insurance, shared service centres and established offshoring operators, all recruiting from a broadly similar graduate cohort. Where an operator can accept French-only or English-only delivery, the wage band for the same seat compresses materially, and the Casablanca premium narrows.

2. Attrition as a cost, not a KPI. Attrition converts directly into cash. At a 30% annual churn rate and a replacement cost of MAD 20,000 per leaver, Casablanca carries roughly MAD 6,000 per seat per year in pure churn cost, before counting the quality and service-level penalties that arrive with a permanently junior bench. Every 5 percentage points of attrition avoided is worth approximately MAD 1,000 per seat per year in this model, and considerably more once ramp-up inefficiency is priced. This is the line item most responsive to management action, and therefore the one that separates a well-run centre from a poorly run one in the same city.

3. Occupancy and shift design. Occupancy is the smallest of the big four lines, at roughly 5% to 6% of fully-loaded cost per seat in all three cities. The lever is not the rent per square metre but the seat-sharing ratio: a centre running genuine two-shift coverage halves the effective real estate cost per full-time equivalent. Investors who negotiate hard on rent while accepting single-shift utilisation are optimising the wrong variable.

4. Currency and regime stability. Morocco's managed exchange arrangement has historically produced less violent translation swings than Egypt has experienced, which matters to a euro-billing client on a three-year contract. Stability is an economic good, and part of the Casablanca premium is a rational payment for it rather than an inefficiency to be arbitraged away.

Translated into a deal, the benchmark implies the following indicative economics for a 100-seat bilingual delivery centre.

Four implications for investors and their finance teams.

Working capital dominates the first year. Capex of MAD 3.5m to 5.5m is modest next to an MAD 18.1m annual run-rate. The binding constraint is the cash gap between payroll, which is monthly and non-negotiable, and client receivables of 45 to 90 days, compounded by a ramp period in which billable utilisation sits well below steady state. A defensible model funds roughly four to six months of fully-loaded cost per bilingual IT support seat as working capital, not two. Structuring that facility correctly is a financial advisory and structuring question before it is an operational one.

Contract currency is the real risk allocation. A euro-denominated revenue line against a dirham cost base creates a structural long-euro position. Investors should decide explicitly whether that exposure is hedged, passed to the client through an indexation clause, or retained as an intentional position. In Cairo, the same analysis is materially more consequential, because the apparent 37% cost advantage is partly a currency artefact that local wage inflation tends to reclaim over time.

Incentive regimes should be modelled as contingent, not guaranteed. Morocco offers preferential frameworks for exported services and for companies located in designated zones, and regional investment centres administer support instruments tied to job creation and investment thresholds. Any specific rate or grant amount must be verified against the applicable regulator and the current finance law before it is underwritten. Prudent practice is to model the base case without incentives and treat any benefit as upside, an approach that sits naturally with disciplined risk management and compliance work.

Site selection should be scored, not assumed. If the mandate is lowest nominal cost per bilingual IT support seat, Cairo wins on this model. If the mandate is euro-cost predictability, regulatory familiarity for European clients and same-time-zone proximity, Casablanca justifies its premium. Tunis is the balanced choice for French-dominant workloads at moderate scale. Framing that decision properly is the purpose of structured market research and intelligence and, once a location is chosen, disciplined market entry and business setup execution.