Katowice and its agglomeration are still among the leaders in employment in the Business Services Sector (BSS). With over 16 500 qualified people working in 71 BSS centers (what is 8,4% of total employment in BSS in Poland) the agglomeration is 4th region in the country with highest employment in the sector, after Kraków, Warsaw and Wrocław. The Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ) prepared a report entitled “BSS in Poland”, that was presented for the first time on 12th of September in Katowice.
BSS is now the fastest growing and generating the most jobs area of the Polish economy. In 852 BSS centers located in 27 Polish cities 193 000 people are hired. According to PAIiIZ researches, 90% of those people have higher education and Poles are engaged in ambitious international projects.
The advantage of the agglomeration is that the region is an academic center with almost 98 000 students and over 28 000 graduates. The vast majority of them all is fluent in English or in other languages.
“PAIiIZ latest report confirms the strong position of Katowice and the Upper Silesian area on the map of business services sector” – underlines Bogumił Sobula, deputy mayor of the City of Katowice. “Activities aimed at strengthening the investment attractiveness of Katowice bring results” – he notes.
Katowice is most often chosen by American companies (15 centers) and German business (7). The region also hosts BSS centers with English, Dutch (5 centers each) and French capital (4). “Katowice becomes more and more attractive, both for companies with foreign capital, as well as for Polish ones, which develop their business here. I am convinced that the investment attractiveness of our city makes Katowice one of the best places for investment in this sector, not only in Poland but also in Central Europe” – adds Bogumił Sobula.
When choosing the location, investors from BSS sector pay attention to the availability of qualified employees with knowledge of languages and technical competences. “We can say, that for BSS, the labour market has turned from employers’ to employees’, or even students’ market. Companies recruit their future employees, especially for IT centers already on their second, third year of studies” – says Bartłomiej Pawlak, head of PAIiIZ.
Investors also mention other important factors, as good communication infrastructure, IT facilities, a wide range of modern office space, good cooperation with local authorities, attractive incentives and a high quality of life. “In Katowice, we’ve created the center where we design and test services. Due to IT Cloud solutions are than implemented globally for our customers. Educated and enthusiastic staff is the precious for our company and for the whole city and all investors” – says Marcin Nowak, managing director of Cloud Infrastructure Services Eastern Europe, Capgemini.