Egypt as an Outsourcing Destination

THE EGYPTIANS ARE FIGHTING FOR EUROPE

2019-08-19T07:13:00.000-07:00

Source: http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/en/blog/wiktor-doktor/the-egyptians-are-fighting-for-europe

Author: Wiktor DoktÓr

A week ago (June 4th, 2019) I was in Berlin at the conference organized by the German Outsourcing Association (Deutscher Outsourcing Verband). This is one of the few conferences in Germany, where both the recipients of services from Germany and suppliers of such services from different countries, meet in an intimate group of about 100 people.

I attend this conference every year and I have to tell you that every time I find out there interesting things and meet no less interesting people. Besides, I'm not the only one from Poland. Our country is accompanied by a certain group of representatives, which this year gathered both IT companies, BPO centers, and even the public sector.

But I will not write about it today. I will mention Egypt, who is hungry for providing outsourcing services not only to Germany but also to other countries in Europe. Egypt, specifically ITIDA (Information Technology Industry Development Agency) from Cairo, was one of the main partners of this year's event in the German capital. I had the opportunity to talk to Rolana Rashwan and Noha Tarek Shaaban, who represented the Egyptian agency at a conference in Berlin.

Basically, the meeting like many others, I have the pleasure of running during various events in the outsourcing industry, but here I learned a few new things. In fact, these last months taught me a lot about the perception of the size of the BSS industry in the world. With some of the topics I agree, with some I discuss, and at the sight of some data, I smile a bit.

Okay, but let's get back to Egypt.

Did you know that from an outsourcing perspective, according to IDC estimates, in Egypt the employment in the BSS sector is already at the level of 212,000 people, and 2020 will bring 240,000 employees? Going further and quoting the financial data from payscale.com - the average annual salary of the software developer position in Egypt is 7,500 USD - in comparison, in Poland, the amount of such remuneration is estimated at around USD 24,000 per year.

Going further - there are now over 100 other countries served from Egypt, and the service takes place in over 20 languages. In the number of over 500,000 university graduates each year, up to 270,000 graduates completing courses related to modern business services and IT services. Well, the scale is not surprising, in the end, Egypt has a population of over 100 million inhabitants.

The presence of Egypt's representatives in Berlin was not accidental. Unlike outsourcing service providers from the CEE and SEE regions, the Egyptians did not focus only on potential clients from Germany. Their goal was also to focus on companies from Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and our other neighbors, for whom Egyptian companies could be subcontractors.

The same time zone, more than half lower costs, aggressive sales to Western European countries ... well, it gives us things to be thought over. There is always a question about quality, transfer of knowledge, copyrights, international law, etc., etc., but it made me think a bit.

Will we work with Egyptian outsourcing companies? Perhaps. In the end, we are already working with entities from India, the Philippines, China, and Ukraine.

http://timeforegypt.net/
itida.gov.eg

The Future Looks Bright For North Africa’s Tech Scene

2017-08-06T03:11:00.000-07:00

Source: http://afkinsider.com/140286/the-future-looks-bright-for-the-tech-sector-in-north-africa/
Other publications by the author: http://afkinsider.com/140286/the-future-looks-bright-for-the-tech-sector-in-north-africa/

By Tom Jackson AFKI OriginalPublished: August 3, 2017, 3:00 am

It was merely six years ago that the Arab Spring swept parts of the Middle East and North Africa, resulting in the resignation of long-serving Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

The new president, Mohamed Morsi, lasted less than a year, and political turmoil reigned in the country. This took its toll on investment, as potential backers were scared off by the uncertainty. The Egyptian tech scene was one of the many casualties.

Things are changing, however. Elected president in 2014, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is overseeing Egypt’s transition into a democracy. His government has put information and communication technology at the centre of its growth strategy, and hopes to attract over $18 billion in investment in the next six years.

Venture capital firms are flooding back into the country, from 500 Startups to the IFC to Algebra Ventures, and after years of being denied access to funds, Egyptian tech startups are now swimming in them again.

In the last two months alone, food discovery platform elmenus, ridesharing startup Swvl, e-courier app Bosta, and food delivery startup Mumm have secured rounds, while Orange and Flat6Labs have announced their intention to invest in Egyptian startups. The future looks bright.

Growth has been significant. Eight Egyptian tech startups secured investment over the course of 2016, making it the fourth most popular African country in terms of the number of startups that raised capital, with the total amount raised jumping 105 percent to $9.7 million.

The data, from Disrupt Africa’s annual African startup funding report, rates Egypt as the fastest growing country on the continent when it comes to investment in tech startups, and that is likely to be the same again this year.

Massive opportunity for innovation in North Africa

Omar Gabr is co-founder and CEO is Egyptian startup Instabug, a bug reporting app that was selected for the Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator accelerator and is used on over 800 million devices globally. He says the Arab Spring actually gave a huge motivational boost to an entire generation to build and innovate.

“More tech startups are launching every day. There is a massive opportunity for innovation,” he said.

“Investors are coming back for sure.”

Investors are returning, and at ticket sizes bigger than ever. E-health startup Vezeeta’s $5 million round late last year was an Egyptian record, doubling the previous one set in 2015. It is highly likely it will be broken again before this year is out.

This process is not only happening in Egypt, however, with the Disrupt Africa funding reports also noting an increase in funding for Tunisian and Moroccan startups. Though not as high profile as Egypt, the two countries had their own fair share of turmoil during and after the Arab Spring, and saw investment drain away.

That, again, is now slowly changing. Three Tunisian startups raised over $500,000 in funding in 2016, with no rounds in 2015. Three Moroccan startups raised a combined $3.4 million, making it the sixth most popular African country in this respect.

Mehdi Triki is co-founder of Tunisian company RoamSmart, which was founded in 2012 and is now active in over 30 countries – providing roaming solutions to mobile operators. It is now a hugely successful business and a Tunisian export, but it suffered at the beginning.

“Fortunately, the situation has improved a lot since 2013 with the first democratic elections, which went well,” he said.

“With the improving environment, there are investors coming to Tunisia which is indirectly beneficial for us. The ecosystem is more dynamic and active and this is a positive environment in case we decide to look for a second funding round.”

He also notes an increase in the number of incubator and accelerator programmes, which he said are are encouraging the entrepreneurs to pitch and “make their dreams come true”.

Egypt is without doubt the leader in the North Africa market, but Triki believes the region as a whole has potential that cannot be ignored.

“The region has obviously big potential. Nevertheless, it varies from country to country depending on the political and security situation of each, and the impact of the Arab Spring,” he said.

“Morocco and Tunisia offer the best prospects and potential among the North Africa region. Innovation is visible from the different startup competitions.”

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ITIDA Presents Seventh Export IT Program Results Final Statement

2017-07-13T06:35:00.000-07:00

The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), during its review of the final statement of the seventh edition of Export IT program held in February, announced that 100 Egyptian ICT companies received 40.98 million Egyptian Pounds.

80% of the support went to 93 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)and the remaining 20% went to large enterprises. 13 new companies joined the program for the first time, while 108 companies from different governorates of Egypt such as Cairo, Alexandria, Dakahlia, El-Gharbia, Ismailia, El-Sharqia and Suez applied for receiving the program support.

The initial statistics of the 2016 program—which aims to analyze data on exports of ICT companies during 2015— states that Asia is on top of the most frequent destinations for importing ICT products and services from the Egyptian companies—participated in the program, followed by the Americas, Europe and Africa.

The United Arab Emirates, the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia and China are among the leading countries in the above destinations. Call Center services topped the list of exported services, followed by content management services, software and applications development and support services, and finally mobile application development services.

As for the business sectors targeted by ICT companies when exporting their services and products, the telecommunications sector was the top followed by the consulting, research and publishing sectors, and then the information technology sector and the financial and banking services sector.

ITIDA has set a number of new conditions related to participation in this year's program edition, which has contributed to increasing the demand of other services such as e-signature services, where 132 companies obtained e-signature certificates to ensure the confidentiality of their data and electronic transactions.

ITIDA has invited the Egyptian companies exporting these services and products to apply for direct financial support, which amounts to 10% to 20%— according to the size of the company—from the added value of exports and revenues of exports collected in 2015.

In a related context, an identification workshop was held in Borg Al-Arab Technology Park and ITIDA premises in Smart Village, to encourage the participation of new companies, especially from other governorates, explain the terms and conditions and specify the documents required and the methods of applying. This is in addition to explaining how to use the electronic application of the program and how to sign electronically through it.

ITIDA has adopted a new strategy aimed at stimulating companies to increase their exports of products and services that are increasing in demand internationally. In its new edition, the program provides additional support for e-Design, e-Health and e-Gaming exports by an additional 2% to the stated percentage.

The program aims to increase the number of beneficiaries to reach 1000 exporting companies in the near future, especially with the availability of all growth potentials. With the outstanding government support and ITIDA efforts, the program seeks to foster creativity and innovative ideas of young people and support local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to penetrate foreign markets.

More than 150 Egyptian companies have been able to get support estimated at about 231 million Egyptian pounds since the launch of the program in its first edition in 2010. This support motivated the Egyptian companies involved in the program to increase their exports of ICT products and services, which value reached 5.6 billion Egyptian pounds according to the statistics of the program in previous years and the export data provided by companies participating in the program.

Nominations Open for ALECSO Apps Award Third Edition

2017-03-26T01:23:00.001-07:00

Nominations are now open for the third edition of ALECSO Award for Mobile Applications (Alecso Apps Award) 2017 until May 15, where the final ceremony will be held in Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia. "Alecso Apps" is an annual award assigned to the best Arab completed applications in education, culture, science and educational games.

The award comes within the framework of a broader project conducted by the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (known as ALECSO). The project aims to provide technological and institutional environment necessary to contribute to the emergence of an Arab industry for smart phones and digital tablets applications. This will be attained via contributing to the development of a common Arab vision for the sector, developing Arab specialized human resources and facilitating and promoting the production of mobile applications. A special award for People with Disabilities (PwDs) applications will be launched in the current edition, in collaboration with Mada, Qatar Assistive Technology Centre.

The previous two editions witnessed a large turnout of mobile application developers, where more than 1,350 contestants from 19 Arab countries competed, in the 2016 edition, to win the award in its four categories: education, culture, science and educational games. Winners of the second edition were announced in the closing ceremony hosted in Dubai, UAE on 19 November 2016, where 55 candidates from 19 Arab countries participated.

The Arab League Education, Culture and Science Organization (ALECSO) is a specialized institution headquartered in Tunis, functioning within the framework of the League of Arab States (LAS). It is concerned with enhancing the fields of education, culture and science at regional and national levels, and coordinating among Arab states. ALECSO was created by virtue of Article 3 of the Arab Cultural Unity Charter, and was officially declared on 25 July 1970.

source:mcit.gov.eg

Egypt Partakes in Facilitating Access to ICT Services in Rural and Remote Areas Workshop

2017-03-13T04:09:00.001-07:00

National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA), participates in Facilitating Access to ICT Services in Rural and Remote Areas. The workshop takes place on March 13 to 14 in Amman, Jordan, under the patronage of Jordanian Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), and in concert with GSMA.

The agenda is built on outcomes and recommendations of the fourteenth meeting of Arab Regulators Network of Telecommunications and Information Technologies (AREGNET), held in Amman on 25 till 27 April 2016, in which NTRA participated.

The workshop discusses a series of activities and events organized by TRC during its presidency of AREGNET, through which it sought to promote capacity building and exchange of knowledge and experiences among member states.

Strengthening and facilitating access to ICTs is one of the Arab region priorities, especially with the wide remote areas in most of Arab countries. During the workshop, NTRA showcases the Egyptian ICT sector’s distinct efforts in this regard. NTRA also seeks to identify the most prominent solutions and emerging best practices in tackling this issue, in order to take advantage of them in developing the national framework to cope with international practices

+MCIT Egypt

Connecting Egyptians with tech jobs [from Business Monthly and Zawya]

2017-02-21T00:33:00.000-08:00

By Tamer Hafez

Starting in 2003, when Xceed Call Center launched Egypt’s call service industry in Smart Village, a sleek new business park on the outskirts of Cairo, fresh university graduates looking to kick-start a career in tech—or just find a job—manned phones in the country’s fast-growing outsourcing sector. The work ranged from taking fast-food orders to providing emergency tech support for multinational companies, with call center employees earning anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand pounds a month—with the more skilled positions paying three times as much as new entrants to the workforce might hope to make in other sectors. Ahmed Saeed, who was among this early crop of young call center agents, saw the opportunity in this growing new sector and parlayed the experience into opening his own business. Now 39, Saeed is the owner of a service that provides training for call center employees.

With a prime location at the locus of three continents and a cheap, plentiful workforce, Egypt saw the potential of this growing industry to boost its economy and provide badly needed jobs for young people—following in the footsteps of India, the global leader in so-called outsourcing. Dozens of call centers opened in Egypt after Xceed paved the way, growing some 30 to 50 percent by 2008, and by 2011, the country was named the fourth-best destination for call centers by A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index. However, the January 25 revolution—during which the government temporarily cut mobile and internet service—greatly spooked multinational firms that had contracts with local call centers, particularly after the months of instability that followed. According to data from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the number of new job postings in the call center industry dropped from more than 5,000 in fiscal 2008/09 to half that in the years following the uprising. Egypt is now ranked the 16th best location for call centers worldwide, though it’s still number one in the Middle East and North Africa region.

In recent months, the government has stepped up its ongoing efforts to transform Egypt into a technology hub, seeking to attract not just call centers but tech-related research and development and manufacturing as well. A proposed investment law meant to overhaul Egypt’s business climate calls for “free tech zones,” to attract ICT firms by promising them tax-free status on everything from machinery to imports. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is also pushing a multi-pronged strategy to lure more of these firms to Egypt by creating specialized tech zones outside of the capital to house call centers, R&D firms and factories that make electronic devices and components. In November, at the Cairo ICT conference, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi unveiled an approximately LE 100-billion fund to support new and existing tech companies.

Not only is outsourcing a rapidly growing industry with lots of potential jobs for young people, according to the government’s rationale—call centers can be established anywhere, offering a way to create employment in remote parts of the country. In Egypt, the vast majority of the population is currently crowded into the Nile Valley.

In December 2015, Minister of Communication and Information Technology Yasser el Kady announced that the Information Technology Industry Development Authority, with the help of consultant Ernst & Young, was assessing the economic feasibility of seven zones with gated business parks suited to tech firms. “We will not stop at smart buildings and providing innovation centers,” Kady told the media, pointing out that fully serviced and integrated zones would pave the way for an ICT sector boom in Egypt. To that end, Silicon Waha, a joint venture between ITIDA, the Information Technology Industry Development Authority, and the New Urban Communities Authority, is currently working with Wadi el Nile Developments to build a 41-feddan tech zone in Assiut and a 30-feddan zone in Borg el Arab, with a total investment of around LE 400 million. Speaking to the press last month, Kady said that eight tech companies would be up and running in the two zones by the end of 2017.

“We are currently looking at both zones,” says Mohamed Ismail, the regional director for development at Transmission Holdings, a company that builds mobile phones. “Our criteria is logistics and the size of the plots on offer.” Ismail aims to have a prototype 4G-capable smartphone before the end of the year and be manufacturing 6 million phones, tablets and mini-laptops annually by 2020. Silicon Waha has also signed MoUs with Samsung, Huawei and ZTE to manufacture ADSL equipment, routers and modems in the new tech zones.

The ministry also has plans to establish other similar tech zones in Sadat City (50 feddans), Beni Sueif (100 feddans), New Aswan (40 feddans), 10 Ramadan City (85 feddans) and Ismailia (100 feddans) at an estimated price tag of LE 24 billion. Mohamed Abdel Wahab, an aide to the Minister of CIT for tech zones, was quoted last month as saying the government would charge $9 to $10 per square meter. “This is a competitive rate,” he said. Each zone will eventually have a board of directors that oversees operators and enforces regulations.

As an added incentive for developers and tech companies to set up shop here, Minister of Investment Dalia Khorshid said that the draft investment law currently before Parliament has proposed that such companies manufacturing goods for export and servicing foreign clients remain exempt from tariffs. “Our aim is to increase the amount of investments in the tech industry to $3 billion and provide an additional half a million more jobs by the end of 2020,” Khorshid said in January, following the Cabinet’s approval of the most recent version of the law.

ITIDA is managing the fund the president unveiled in November. It includes LE 50 million in subsidies specifically earmarked for new tech-hardware manufacturers that make devices such as mobile phones and tablets or components like circuit boards or chips. Companies with capital of at least LE 10 million can apply for up to 30 percent of their capital expenditures on equipment to be paid for by the government, provided that 40 percent of their purchasing budgets are earmarked for locally made machines and components. The fund will cover an additional 10 percent of equipment expenditures if a company exports at least 25 percent of its goods. The fund also offers support for existing tech firms that use local inputs—and even more for those that export at least a percentage of their final goods. It also aims to support employee training, offering even more for enterprises whose work forces are at least one-quarter female.

Even though these funds have not officially launched, new investors are already factoring them into their investment decisions. “We are looking at which of these incentives would suit our business model,” says Mohamed Salem, CEO of Sico Technology, a hardware firm that’s building a LE 100-million mobile phone factory in the Assiut tech zone. Ahmed Kandil, the exclusive local dealer for Xtouch, a Chinese electronics brand that makes smartphones and other devices, has long-term plans to partner with an Egyptian factory to build various Xtouch phones and tablets. “We are still only a few months in the market, but we see great potential with these initiatives,” says Kandil. “At this stage, partnerships will work very well with us.”

MCIT’s goal is to boost Egypt’s ICT exports to $2.5 billion by the end of fiscal 2017/18, up from $1.8 billion in fiscal 2015/16. Officials are hoping these measures will help create jobs for the millions of youth who need them. Unemployment, a chronic problem, has only gotten worse in recent years, especially among the young and educated, with 42 percent of Egyptian youth between 15 and 24 jobless, according to the International Labor Organization, compared to 12.5 percent of the general population. In the last academic year, some 500,000 tech-trained young people graduated from Egyptian universities, according to the Ministry of Higher Education. Since the rise of tech parks in the early 2000s, the government says it is also trying to integrate more ICT skills into the basic curriculum as well as offering post-graduate courses through the state-owned Information Technology Institute, the Software Engineering Competence Center and the National Telecom Institute. Meanwhile, the ICT ministry has authorized training centers to offer an International Computer Driving License in cooperation with UNESCO.

While Egyptian university students remain fixated on the traditional prestige professions of medicine and engineering, an increasing number of youth are drawn to the tech industry. Tamer Hassan is a senior at Cairo University’s Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering who would happily accept an entry-level job at a call center, even if it meant working night shifts or 12-hour workdays. Over the summer break, he interned answering phones at a call center. “I have established very good relations with my future employer,” he says. “This is why I think my first step is to work at a call center and see where it takes me.”

Another student, Hadya Yassin, is studying electronic hardware design. Recently, she’s been learning how to design circuit boards, and she hopes to parlay this into a factory job upon earning her diploma. While some might see working on an electronics assembly-line or answering phones as menial, Yassin proundly points to her elder sister, who took an outsourcing job upon her graduation from university back in 2005 and now has a good job managing one of the country’s largest call centers. “It is always better from a career perspective to work in a new industry,” declares Yassin.

Othman Lotfy, a computer science professor at Cairo University, says that students who can speak a foreign language have an edge in landing jobs at Egypt’s call centers, which cater to callers across Europe as well as in places like Russia and Latin America. In recent years, the ICT ministry has organized job fairs at the university, big employers like IBM and Microsoft search for recruits among the soon-to-graduate.

As of 2014, the most recent year statistics are available, Egypt’s ICT sector employs 800,000 to 1 million people, according to officials. Even the Egyptian government now employs call centers, with the Ministry of Electricity outsourcing its customer service operations since 2016. Currently, call centers field calls from customers in southern Cairo, but eventually they will serve all of Cairo and Alexandria. The growing popularity of delivery services in the cities has also created call center jobs. “Those call center positions only require a basic education and good Arabic pronunciation along with the most basic computer skills,” says Lotfy.

Said Riad, head of the commercial sector at Wasla Outsourcing, a call center with offices around Cairo, agrees that the ICT sector is indeed growing again but that it will ultimately need more than just infrastructure in order to provide good, viable long-term employment for more Egyptians and deliver equitable growth. Workers need access to affordable public transit to get to work, among other things. “Youngsters are still not so desperate that they’ll be willing to work in the middle of nowhere,” says Riad.

© Business Monthly 2017

GSMA Celebrates 4G Launch in Egypt and Commends the Government’s Commitment to Release More Spectrum in 2017

2017-01-12T03:58:00.001-08:00

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The GSMA welcomes the successful launch of 4G services by mobile operators in Egypt, and believes that Egypt’s leadership in 4G will serve as catalyst for economic growth and deliver broad societal benefits.

During a recent visit to Egypt, the GSMA’s Director General Mats Granryd attended the CAIRO ICT Forum and engaged with leaders from the mobile operators and other Egyptian ICT companies. The GSMA found widespread industry support for the Government’s plans to release more spectrum in 2017, which were announced by HE Eng. Yasser ElKady and will further enhance the newly launched 4G services, allowing all mobile operators to offer quality 4G services to the people of Egypt.

“The GSMA is very pleased with the successful launch of 4G services in Egypt and we stand ready to engage with all stakeholders in Egypt to ensure continued success and growth of the Egyptian mobile economy. Having lived and worked in Egypt for several years, I feel confident that the launch of 4G will prove to be a key milestone for the country,” commented Granryd.

The International Telecommunication Union emphasises that abundant spectrum is essential to promoting competition and innovation in telecommunications markets.¹ The Government’s plan to release more spectrum in 2017 can help ensure that sufficient spectrum is available for the delivery of high quality, competitive 4G services and to incentivise further investments in 4G networks.

John Giusti, the GSMA’s Chief Regulatory Officer noted: “In looking at other successful launches of 4G services, the total amount of spectrum assigned to each operator for 4G should be in the range of 2x30MHz to 2x60MHz, across a range of coverage and capacity bands, with a minimum contiguous bandwidth of 2x10MHz in each band. The GSMA looks forward to working with the Egyptian government as it plans the release of more mobile spectrum this year, so that mobile operators can extend 4G services and drive further socio-economic benefits for all Egyptian citizens.”

-ENDS-

About the GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with almost 300 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai, Mobile World Congress Americas and the Mobile 360 Series of conferences.

For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA.

¹ http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170110005042/en/

Assiut Technology Park hosts job fair for Upper Egypt youth

2017-01-04T01:31:00.001-08:00

The event is offering 450 job opportunities in the fields of communication and information technology

Assiut Technology Park, located in New Assiut city, will host the first job fair on Wednesday which will provide about 450 job opportunities for young people in the field of information technology in the Assiut province.

The job fair is organised by Egyptian Information, Telecommunications, Electronics, and Software Alliance (EITESAL) and is held under the auspices of Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and Silicon Waha. More than 12 specialised technological companies will offer a variety of employment opportunities in the field of information and communication technology, including technical support, network maintenance, website design, software and applications development as well as outsourcing and customer services. The companies will also offer job opportunities in marketing, sales, and human resources.

About 1,300 young graduates applied for the job fair, of whom 70% are residents of Assiut and the rest are from neighbouring provinces in Upper Egypt.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Yasser ElKady inaugurated in November the first phase of the Borg El-Arab and Assiut technology parks in the framework of the national project to create technological zones all over the country. These projects aim to reduce internal migration by providing direct and indirect job opportunities for Egyptian youths.

The technological zones also provide a competitive operating cost for investors and an adequate investment environment in different governorates, as the government seeks to develop disadvantaged and marginalised areas and provide electronic services for citizens there.

ITIDA offers local electronics manufacturing incentives to foreign and Egyptian investors

2017-01-04T01:04:00.000-08:00

The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) organised workshops, attended by more than 80 representatives of foreign and local companies, to offer packages and incentive programmes designed by the authority in coordination with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. The workshops are meant to cover the industry’s needs such as circuits designing and manufacturing …

Hossam Osman, executive vice president of ITIDA, said that the general framework of the strategy adopted by the state in the field of electronic industries is based on stimulating foreign investments. He added that this strategy enables research development and innovation, while promoting exports by activating trade agreements, developing the capacity of human resources, and improving the regulatory environment.

This comes in light of the presidential initiative for the design and manufacture of electronics called Egypt Manufactures Electronics, which is overseen by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. The initiative aims to make the electronics industry one of the pillars of economic growth by doubling Egyptian electronics exports, and achieving self-sufficiency in the local market, which lowers the rate of imports. The initiative also aims to provide new job opportunities for professionals and technicians working in this field.

The initiative seeks to manufacture a number of promising electronic products including mobile phones, tablets, navigation devices, and its feeding industries such as lithium batteries, electric chargers, screens unit, speakers, LED lighting products, smart counters, televisions, and LED screens. Under the initiative solar energy systems such as solar cells, transducers, controllers, energy batteries, and industrial electronics would have local manufacturing rates ranging from 40-60%.

Stimulus programmes provided by ITIDA includes encouraging companies to increase their investments in the field of electronics such as their capital attraction programme, which includes financing a local partnership with an international company or financing a local company that manufactures one of the most promising products and its feeding components with advanced technology.

Stimulus programmes also include the capital programme for modernising feeding industries. This programme includes financing a local party to develop existing feeding industries. ITIDA also offers a programme for supporting operating expenses, which aims to increase competitiveness of some components manufactured locally such as printed circuits, micro-chips packaging, headphones, and lithium batteries.

ITIDA also has an innovative designs stabilisation programme designed to finance the research, development, and creativity of electronic components in electrical appliances, automobiles, and other projects.

Stimulus programmes also include the development programme for financing companies’ research in the field of the Internet of Things and emerging electronic companies. This programme provides financing in the field of electronic design and covers the financing costs of design patents on an international level.

ITIDA also offers a technical and specialised training programme, which focuses on basic and advanced training levels for workers in the electronics industry. The programme is meant to generate 500-800 engineering graduates a year. Furthermore, the technical training programme offered by ITIDA aims to produce 2,000 skilled technicians and workers a year. Another programme aims to train 50-100 entrepreneurs and leaders every year.

Jobs and Skills for PwDs with Focus on ICT-Based Solutions Project Session to Hold

2017-01-04T01:01:00.000-08:00

In celebration of the International Day for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), a dialogue session on the Jobs and Skills for PwDs with Focus on ICT-Based Solutions Project is held on December 21, in Cairo, where representatives of the community, training and recruiting institutions, as well as the project partners, participate in the event. The event aims to review and exchange experiences in the field of qualifying and employing PwDs using ICT tools; in light of the state's Strategy for Sustainable Development—Egypt Vision 2030, and cooperation with international institutions and civil society organizations in raising awareness in the field of learning skills for employment opportunities.

The celebration includes three sessions, the first discusses the training on employment skills programs, while the second is about how to create jobs for PwDs, and the third session on the holistic integration and employment. The sessions tackled best practices in the field of PwDs employment, and the challenges facing them with means to overcome those challenges.

The project is launched by EGYPT ICT Trust Fund in September 2014, in partnership with the United Nations Development Program and the International Labor Organization (ILO), in line with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) role in activating the sustainable development using ICTs, which is particularly concerned with empowering PwDs and developing their abilities, providing more training and employment opportunities and helping them integrate into the labor market.

The project is based on several objectives including qualifying persons with visual and physical disability with skills needed by the labor market and raise the efficiency of specialized NGOs to provide services and better job opportunities for PwDs. It also aims to contribute to finding practical training opportunities in the private sector for their employment and innovate technological solutions and applications to support them in their daily lives.

The project targeted young people with physical and visual disabilities in the age group from 18 to 35 years, exactly 600 PwDs, and 60 trainers to qualify them for the training programs, which varied between customer service, call centers, management and entrepreneurship skills, presentation skills, leadership and communication skills, marketing and e-marketing skills, management and planning of small and medium enterprises, the maintenance basics of computers, laptops and mobile phones, and the basics of design and graphics.

Egypt govt partners Mastercard to promote e-payment systems

2016-11-30T05:34:00.000-08:00

Egypt's Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and MasterCard have signed an agreement to support the development of e-payment systems and cashless transactions in technology parks and smart villages in Egypt. The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Yasser ElKady said the ministry and its affiliates seek to disseminate the concept of financial inclusion based on multiple options for financial transactions, as well as enhance the efficiency of payments and encourage financial literacy among dealers.

The MoU stimulates joint efforts between the two parties. MasterCard is to provide e-payment services to create a digital payment experience for all companies dealing with smart villages and technology parks, while ITIDA is to support this initiative by encouraging smart villages and technology parks to provide full online services for their companies, thereby improving service efficiency.

To achieve this objective, a bundle of tools for e-payments services for SMEs will be available for use, such as APIs. In addition, SMEs will be encouraged to take advantage of MasterCard's expertise in this area. This is in addition to participating in ITIDA training programs, and enabling SMEs to use MasterCard payments system.

Egypt is a Finalist for the Outsourcing Destination of the Year 2016 Award

2016-09-20T05:00:00.002-07:00

European Outsourcing Association, EOA, unveils its 2016 shortlist.

Abundant multilingual talent supply, competitive operational cost, attractive business environment, entrepreneurship and innovation, together with government support, qualified Egypt to compete for the prestigious European award.

CAIRO, Sept. 8, 2016 - Egypt has been shortlisted as the Outsourcing Destination of the Year 2016 for the European Outsourcing Association (EOA) Awards, one of the most prestigious outsourcing industry awards. The EOA is the center of excellence for outsourcing in Europe. It is committed to advancing the outsourcing profession and the outsourcing industry by driving awareness, education, standards and thought leadership. Winners will be announced next October, following the EOA Leadership Summit in Bulgaria, which gathers the global sourcing leaders and influencers.

Recent years witnessed a shift in the outsourcing landscape in Egypt from low-value to high-value services. BPO, IT and R&D outsourcing services have mushroomed over the last four years, with employees doubling to reach around 50,000 FTE. The contribution of Egypt's ICT industry to GDP grew by 13% in the last two years, reaching 4.1% of total GDP. In 2015, the Egyptian Information Technology Industry Development Agency, ITIDA, created 6,000 new jobs through expansion agreements with MNCs.

This year, ITIDA features the innovative and collaborative environment in Egypt through its investment in the newly established company, Silicon Waha, for establishing science and technology parks across second-tier cities. This countrywide initiative encompasses a collaborative ecosystem of government, ICT companies, academia and entrepreneurs and creates 500,000 jobs. By the end of 2016, two parks will be operational under the name We Parks, one within Alexandria city, covering the coastal area, and the other within Assiut city, covering Upper Egypt. We Parks complement the portfolio of the successful Smart Village and Maadi Technology Park in the capital. Moreover, ITIDA's affiliate, the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, has launched the Innovation Clusters Initiative to develop an Innovator-friendly environment in Egyptian cities based on a Public Private Partnership.

The country has an abundant talent pool, with 500,000 annual graduates from more than 35 universities and 100 institutes, 50,000 of which are IT-related, while 220,000 are BPO-related. Its peerless multi-lingual labor is able to serve more than 20 languages across 100 countries.

Compared to other outsourcing destinations in Europe and Asia, Egypt enjoys an exceptionally low attrition rate. Against this background, the country is heavily investing in skills development and talent management. The Next Technology Leaders, NTL, is an initiative to qualify 16,000 Egyptian youths in the ICT field through online and interactive training in collaboration with MNCs, Egyptian universities, and learning institutions.

Egypt's enhanced position is reflected in recent influencers' reports, including Gartner, where Egypt was identified as a primary destination for sourcing and IT services in EMEA. Everest Group's "Putting Egypt Back on Your Location Radar" evaluated the current global services delivery landscape in Egypt. Oxford Business Group cited Egypt's outsourcing industry as going from strength to strength while Forbes ranked Egypt among top 10 countries to launch start-ups. Raconteur ranked it among top 10 emerging countries for outsourcing, and the IMF revealed Egypt as the second largest economy in Africa, ahead of South Africa.

Egypt received the EOA Offshoring Destination of the Year Award in 2010, surpassing Philippines, Colombia, and Sri Lanka. The award recognized Egypt's growing position in the global market and highlighted its competitive advantages. This year, Egypt is competing with Belarus, Fiji, and Sri Lanka; solid strategies, flagship projects, and positive indicators make it a strong candidate for the 2016 award.

AbdelRahman El-Mawawi
Senior Media Researcher
ITIDA
+202 3534 5210
@ITIDA

IDC Announces Opening of New Regional Research Center in Egypt

2016-04-18T04:01:00.000-07:00

Egypt's ICT Minister witnessed the signing of the agreement between IDC and ITIDA during Cairo's CIO Summit International Data Corporation (IDC) today announced the opening of its dedicated new office in Cairo's Smart Village. The global technology research and consulting services firm says a number of analysts and consultants are already on board and that recruitment efforts are continuing after today's formal inauguration at the IDC Egypt CIO Summit 2016, which took place at The Nile Ritz-Carlton Hotel under the patronage of H.E. Yasser El Kady, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

The new office was officially launched by members of IDC's senior management in the presence of representatives from Egypt's Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MCIT) and IT Industry Development Agency (ITIDA).

According to IDC's latest forecasts, the Egyptian ICT market is expected to total around$8.95 billion in 2016 and grow to $10.32 billion in 2019. Much of this growth will be driven by spending on IT services and packaged software, which are expected to experience compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) of around 9% through to 2019. And as the country emerges from its previous period of transition, the economy is expected to demonstrate solid economic growth under the new government, spurred by significant reforms and external investment.

"I'm delighted to witness the launch of IDC new research office in Egypt, thus supporting expansion and job creation for highly-skilled research professionals," says Yasser El Kady,Egypt's ICT minister. "The MoU comes as part of Egypt's endeavors to attract foreign direct investment and is clear confirmation that the country has evolved into a high-end service delivery favored destination for Europe, Middle East and Africa,"

"Capitalizing on the increasing level of investors' confidence in the ICT sector, Egypt is currently implementing a developmental strategy to establish technology parks across the country that serves as a catalyst for Egypt to become a leading, globally-recognized hub for electronic design and ICT innovation," the minister added.

Together, ITIDA and IDC have successfully developed and executed programs that encourage cooperation between Egyptian IT players and the systems integrators and solution providers they need access to in order to thrive in these target markets. Bundled with unstinting access to IDC's expert analysts and research capabilities, the partnership is enabling ITIDA's mission to promote trade in international markets and become a strategic advisor to local, regional, and global companies.

"Egypt is a natural fit with IDC's strategy to invest and grow its presence across the Middle East and Africa," says Jyoti Lalchandani, IDC's vice president and managing director for the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. "IDC has been researching the Egyptian ICT market since the mid-1990s and our research coverage today encompasses the entire spectrum of the industry, including hardware infrastructure, packaged software, IT services, telecommunications, vertical markets, and our recently launched IT Executive Programs, which have been designed with the specific needs of CIOs and IT leaders in mind. In light of this expanded coverage, it made perfect sense for us to open our new office here alongside the second annual IDC Egypt CIO Summit, and I look forward to making a further announcement about our new Country Manager in the coming weeks."

The new office is not IDC's first foray into the Egyptian market. Indeed, over the past few years, IDC has been supporting ITIDA to promote Egyptian IT and ITES companies in export markets across the GCC and Africa.

SOURCE IDC International Data Corporation

ITIDA Sponsors 11 Egyptian ICT Companies at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2016

2016-02-22T12:17:00.002-08:00

Barcelona, Spain – February 2016: Egypt, one of the fastest growing outsourcing destinations worldwide, will showcase current developments of its ICT industry at the world’s largest telecommunications tradeshows, GSMA Mobile World Congress (MWC).

Egypt participates for the fifth time at MWC, the world’s largest exhibition and conference for the mobile industry held in “Fira Gran Via” venue in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain on 22 -25 February 2016. At the EgyptOn 96-square-meters booth (located in hall 7), the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) is accompanied by a delegation of eleven local ICT companies presenting the national ICT sector.

ITIDA, the IT arm of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, offers a wide range of programs supporting the Egyptian ICT companies in marketing their products and services, training their personnel, and building their capacities on both institutional and individual levels. Collective events and commercial trips are two of the vital programs offered by ITIDA to create new business opportunities, and networking channels. These programs help the local businesses penetrate offshore markets and increase ICT exports.

Egypt participated last time in GSMA Mobile World Congress in 2014. At that time, the expected sales valued at more than 12 million Euro after business deals closed by the Egyptian companies.

Three of the sponsored companies are strategic partners; five are business partners and three visitors. Strategic partners include Giza Systems, a leading systems integrator in the MEA with clients in 40 countries with anchor offices in Cairo, Riyadh, Dubai, Nairobi, Dar-es-Salaam and Abuja, designs and deploys industry-specific tech solutions for Telecom, Oil and Gas, Transportation industries.

HOI-MEA is a strategic partner operates in the MENA and Gulf regions for telecoms, industrial, construction, and agricultural sectors. The seven factories of HOI, offer monopoles, self-supporting, and guyed communication towers. HOI-MEA designs and manufactures innovative communication products such as Camouflage or Decorative Solutions, Rapidly Deployed Solutions and Mobile Products.

The third strategic exhibitor is Xceed, the leading multilingual BPO service provider in EMEA with 2200 web enabled multi-channels stations, managing programs for clients covering 4 different continents, in 7 different languages. The BPO giant offers the services of inbound, outbound, back office, Omni channel support, infrastructure management, helpdesk support, recruitment process outsourcing and shared services outsourcing.

The five business partners encompass Bright Creations, a digital software agency developing innovative products and offering digital marketing services in the MEA, Europe and USA. Its offices in Dubai and Cairo offer the services of mobile application design and development, creative design, website design and development and analytics. PassIn; a passive time and presence employee’s tracker, the smartphone app Nav&Go and the travel app TravelBucket are among the products exhibited by the agency.

MAG Consulting is an IT/Telecom company supporting mobile operators and vendors in MEA and North America by enhancing customer experience, network quality and reducing churn. MAG’s full suite of customizable products and platforms supports E2E network quality, radio planning and optimization, network field and L1, L2 and L3 maintenance and network rollout. MAG produces the brands Witune, Smart FM and ERP for Telecoms.

Nilecode Meunity is a multiservice innovation management and consulting company catering high profile companies in MENA, USA and UK, with offices in KSA, Bahrain and Egypt. Specialized in BI&ERP systems, e-commerce solutions, gaming, custom development for web and mobile applications and integrated solutions, Nilecode launched a new business line for big data analysis, AI and machine learning, enterprise solutions through a partnership with the Belgian “Odoo”.

Smart Villages Company (SVC) is among the most successful PPP models in the region. It manages profitably the largest, most prestigious and successful Business Park and Technology Cluster in the MEA, Smart Village Egypt which specializes in communications and information technology and financial services. SVC developed a unique expertise in managing different service providers for the benefit of the community. Forty thousands professionals go daily to their work at 160 multinational/national companies in Smart Village.

Youxel Technology is a joint stock company focusing on mobility and internet of things. Youxel helps big enterprises in the ME shape their mobility strategy, co-work to execute the strategy through developing right mobility solutions. Youxel collaborated with MNCs like HP, Microsoft, IBM and SAP. Youxel is the preferred mobility partner for HP. The company develops iOS/Android mobile applications, cross platform mobile apps, web portals and web applications while provides ITSM management solutions.

Egypt is perceived as a primary country for Sourcing and IT Services in EMEA region and the country is already home and delivery center for several global enterprise companies and hundreds of multinational and regional players with services exports growth rate of 15%. Egypt is gearing up to be a multicenter offshore location by the government investment in spreading technology parks across Egypt with plans in place for new facilities in Alexandria, El Mansoura and Assiut.

About ITIDA:

The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) is a governmental entity affiliated to Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. It is responsible for growing and developing Egypt’s position as a leading global outsourcing location by attracting foreign direct investment to the industry and maximizing the exports of IT services and applications.

Located in the heart of the modern business environment at Smart Village, the six hundred acre business park on the outskirts of Cairo, ITIDA is a self-sustainable entity that drives the IT industry in Egypt and raises awareness among the Egyptian people of the benefits and use of ICT to advance socioeconomic welfare of the whole community.

Contact details:

AbdelRahman El-Mawawi

T: +202 35 34 52 10

E: arahman@itida.gov.eg

Egypt Partakes in OECD - CDEP MSG Meeting

2016-02-22T04:45:00.002-08:00

Egypt, represented by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), will participate in the Ministerial Steering Group (MSG) Meeting that prepares for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP) Ministerial Meeting, held on February 22-23, in Paris, France. CDEP Ministerial Meeting is scheduled to be held in June 2016.

MCIT is a member of the CDEP Ministerial Steering Group where Egypt is the only developing country that joined the Steering Group in light of its valuable contributions to the works of CDEP and its affiliated sub- committees. The Steering Group includes the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Italy, the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland.

MCIT also participated in the meetings of the Steering Group of CDEP Ministerial Meeting held in June 2015 and a number of virtual meetings.

This MSG meeting is due to complete discussions on the preparations for CDEP Ministerial Meeting 2016. The MSG meeting is scheduled to complete discussing the amendments received by CDEP from the States representatives on the initial version of the Ministerial Declaration and deliberate the working papers and agenda of the Ministerial Meeting, along with preparations for the meeting sessions.

OECD was established in 1961, and includes 34 member states. OECD aims to assist states to increase their economic growth, employment rates and the trading volume between member and non-member states. Egypt joined OECD as a permanent observer at the ad hoc committees of the Organization in 2007.

OECD plays an important role in the ICT sector service through the preparation of studies and research that help governments in comparing different policy experiences and find solutions to common problems. This is in addition to its role in coordinating the domestic and international policies of the countries and identifying good practices.

MCIT joined OECD in 2008, representing Egypt in the Committee for Information and Communication and Computer Policy which is known now as the Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP).

Source: Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Smart Village, Cairo, Egypt

Indian investors can tap Egypt's textile, ICT sectors: Envoy

2016-02-18T03:34:00.001-08:00

IANS | Kolkata February 16, 2016 Last Updated at 19:58 IST

ITIDA launches electronic portal to support outsourcing industry in April

2016-01-17T01:54:00.000-08:00

We aim to promote Egypt as a regional axis of call centres, says EITESAL head

Source: Daily News Egypt | By: Mohamed Alaa El-Din

Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) will launch a new initiative in cooperation with the Egyptian Information, Telecommunications, Electronics, and Software Alliance (EITESAL) to help the companies, and workers in the sector of call centres and the outsourcing industry, Vice President of ITIDA Ehab Mostafa said.

The initiative seeks to achieve this through training the companies and their workers, and granting them certificates of compliance with COPC standards.

Egyptian IT exports in the form of services such as outsourcing, call centres, and products such as software amounted to about USD 1.5 billion by the end of 2015.

Mostafa expected Egypt to register growth rates ranging between 10% and 12% in the upcoming few years in the field of outsourcing and exporting IT services. ITIDA, in cooperation with civil society organisations, plans to provide aid to companies for exports, in addition to promoting Egyptian companies in Gulf countries, Africa, some European countries, the US, and the Asian markets, especially as there are promising opportunities there.

Head of the Call Centres Division at EITESAL, Sameh Montaser said there are ~50,000 employees in this industry. Egypt has several advantages in comparison with its competitors, most prominently the availability of trained and qualified human resources, the required infrastructure, language proficiency, and the special geographic location in the middle of the world’s continents. This is in addition the fact that more than 17 marine cables passing through it.
Montaser said the Egyptian Outsourcing Gate will be launched in cooperation with ITIDA in April 2016. The gate aims to promote Egypt’s capabilities and competitive advantages abroad. It will provide data about the available sources in the call centres sector by promoting Egypt’s vision abroad as the regional axis of outsourcing. That is in addition to working on developing the suggested ideas in the field of communications.

ITIDA Launches Sixth Edition of Export-IT to Support ICT Company Exports

2016-01-13T04:52:00.002-08:00

In the framework of its strategy to increase exports of ICT products and services of Egyptian companies, the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) has announced the launch of Export-IT Rebate program for the sixth consecutive year, with a budget of 40 million Egyptian pounds.

ITIDA has set January 21 for the program registration deadline. By virtue of the program, ICT Egyptian companies can receive direct cash rebate amounting to maximum of 10-20% of their value added exports. The rebate value is calculated according to the exports from which the company obtained its cash value during 2014. The rebate maximum value is four million Egyptian pounds for each company, pursuant to the terms and conditions of this year’s program.

The program doesn’t only aim to monitor and analyze financial data on revenues generated from companies exporting ICT products and services, but also aims to consolidate an important economic principle at the state’s level: the need to shift from the informal economy to the formal economy, as reflected in the Gross National Product (GNP).

Exports’ data and indicators of the companies participating in the program, and the analysis conducted by ITIDA are the basis for many of the strategies and programs offered to Egyptian ICT companies. The program is the only one in Egypt that supports exports of Egyptian companies in this sector and is also an essential reference in the process of preparing and developing ITIDA programs, designed to develop the Egyptian companies and increase their competitiveness in the global market.

Products and services supported by the program are diverse, including the development of ICT software and services such as exports of companies specialized in the field of electronics and application development services. This is in addition to IT-Enabled Services such as call center services, IT consulting and training services, as well as embedded software.

Export-IT Rebate program was launched in 2010, through which more than 121 ICT companies managed to get the program’s rebate of approximately 150 million Egyptian pounds over the past five years. Total exports value of Egyptian companies, joining the program, amounted to about three billion Egyptian pounds.

To know more about Export IT, please visit http://www.itida.gov.eg/En/OurPrograms/IndustrySupport/ExportIT2013/Pages/default.aspx

ITIDA Embraces Innovative IT Solutions and Applications Projected to Impact the Future of Egypt at Cairo ICT 2015

2015-12-21T07:00:00.002-08:00

Under “Egypt On Future” Pavilion:

36 Egyptian companies to showcase cutting-edge technologies designed to develop key different areas including education, health, smart cities, and government services

Cairo, Egypt, 13 December 2015: Information Technology Industry Development Agency announced its participation at Cairo ICT 2015 held from 13-16 December at the Cairo International Conference Center under the patronage of H. E. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

A total of 36 Egyptian IT companies are taking part in the said event with the support from ITIDA under a 1400 square meter Pavilion located at hall 4 with the theme of “Egypt On future”.

The companies are crowding to showcase their latest technologies and IT applications with the aim of approaching a better future for Egypt through applying innovative tech solutions across different sectors including government services, education, mobile applications, health, Social responsibility and services, telecom, innovation and smart cities.

The theme of the participation this year reflects how technology would impact the future of Egypt and how it would help in achieving the main focus of the ICT strategy of transforming the country into a digital society and the establishment of Egypt as a global digital hub.

The pavilion also embraces displays for some associated government entities and projects including the Center for Documentation of Cultural & Natural Heritage (CULTNAT), the Information Technology Institute (ITI), and Maadi Tech Park.

The visitors of “Egypt On Future” pavilion will get the opportunity to get introduced to lots of creative solutions offered by the exhibitors that tackle different sectors needs like Raye7’s mobile application for traffic and Vertika’s software for education. In addition, Qabess company comes in the area of smart cities and green technologies with its solutions for generating electricity from the solar energy while Conativelabs which is prominent in the fields of agriculture and fisheries technologies.

This is in addition to some popular startup companies such as bey2ollak, Crowd Analyser, and TripTab; all of which are beneficiary companies from the programs and services provided by ITIDA’s Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship center which is better known as TIEC.

The exhibition is an exclusive platform and networking opportunity for ITIDA where it brings the local IT companies to display among the industry well-established and big players, and engages them with a mix of influential leaders, vendors, operators, and decision makers.

Throughout the last few years, ITIDA has played an essential role in the Egyptian IT sector development through identifying the needs of the IT local industry and addressing them with well-designed programs, policy advice, promoting trade in local and international markets, and being a strategic advisor to local and international companies.

Egyptian IT sector bounces back with 6,000 job opportunities created by foreign investment

2015-06-03T03:54:00.000-07:00

Stable government lures new investments from multi-nationals generating up to 6,000 new jobs in offshore outsourcing activities.
IBM, Procter & Gamble, HSBC, Nestlé, Axxcelera, Mobinil Contact Services, Teleperformance and EMC² sign agreements with the Information Technology Industry Development Agency at the first Technology Sourcing Investor Forum.
Everest Group report shows Egyptian offshore global services industry is once again growing at an average rate of 7.5 percent annually.
Avasant report focuses on Egypt an IT-BPM-KPO destination and its evolution to address the high-value IT and KPO markets.
The industry continued to deliver services with minimum disruption during political turmoil of 2011-2013.

The Egyptian information technology sector is bouncing back with the creation of 6,000 job opportunities by foreign investors.

IBM, Procter & Gamble and HSBC were among eight multi-nationals who signed agreements to extend their partnerships with the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) at the first Technology Sourcing Investor Forum.

The inaugural event hosted today (Tuesday 5th May, 2015) in Cairo by H.E. Eng. Khaled Negm, Minister of ICT, coincided with the publication of a new report from Everest Group which showed that the Egyptian offshore global services industry is once again growing at 7.5 percent annually.

The study says that the establishment of a stable government under President Sisi and the experience of existing multi-national investors in receiving smooth and uninterrupted service delivery despite the political turmoil from 2011-2013, has helped Egypt return to the location decision radar of global players.

Eng. Hussein El-Gueretly, chief executive officer, ITIDA, said: “The Everest Group report reaffirms Egypt’s strong fundamental competitive strengths and capabilities on a global scale in the business process management, information technology and knowledge process outsourcing businesses, and this has been recognised by major multi-nationals who are backing Egypt as a destination of choice.”

The Technology Sourcing Investor Forum was attended by Egypt’s elite ICT investment community, and featured speakers from Everest Group, Avasant, the Los Angeles based management consultancy, the National Outsourcing Association (NOA) and other global analysts and IT leaders.

A white paper published by Avasant, a leading management consulting firm, highlighted the revolutionary changes in the IT-BPM-KPO sector. The paper also discussed Egypt’s strengths as a preferred sourcing destination and the developments underway to further enhance the ecosystem. Also the paper emphasized on Egypt’s position to harness opportunities being created by the new digital revolution.

In addition to IBM, Procter & Gamble, HSBC, agreements were also signed between ITIDA and Nestlé, Axxcelera, Mobinil Contact Services, Teleperformance and EMC². Up to 6,000 will be created over the term of the agreements to serve the companies’ global clients in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Americas, and Asia via multiple languages that include English, German, French, Italian, Arabic, and Spanish, among others.

Egypt is already home to major multi-national corporations including Intel, Valeo, Microsoft, Vodafone, Convergys, Sykes, Cisco, HP, Orange, Dell, Mentor Graphics, and many more exporting their services to 160 countries.

Media Contact details:
For any inquiries, please contact:

Mostafa GabrT: +202 35 34 5174
E: mgabr@itida.gov.eg

Egypt Revitalises Aim to Contend as Top Outsourcing Destination

2015-06-03T03:48:00.002-07:00

Wednesday, June 03, 2015 - After losing its viability as a location for outsourcing back in 2010, Egypt looks set to become a serious destination contender for nearshore service delivery of ITO and BPO five years down the line.

Between 2006 and 2010, Egypt’s IT International Development Agency (ITIDA) ran a successful “Egypt On” campaign for outsourcing that was making good traction. Now, with a graduate pool of 500,000 and 49 per cent of the population working in the services sector, Egypt could be in a prime position to take new business from nearshore companies overseas.

Kerry Hallard, CEO of the National Outsourcing Association, recently visited Cairo to attend an ITIDA investor briefing conference. She commented: “I can unequivocally say Egypt is looking in good shape. Costs remain significantly lower than most nearshore destinations, such as Poland, scalability is good, the graduate talent pool is high, and the domestic and regional markets are growing. Infrastructure is robust, connectivity strong and the willingness of the people infectious.”

You can read Kerry Hallard’s full article “Offshore Outsourcing: Egypt is back On” on the NOA website blog.

Egyptian Tech Firms Expand Footprint in Africa with Expected Business Deals Worth USD 7 Million

2015-06-03T03:46:00.002-07:00

The Government’s Africa Together Initiative Strengthens Egypt’s Position as a Regional Sourcing and ICT Services Hub

CAIRO, Egypt, May 27, 2015 — As a part of the country’s efforts to increase IT exports and achieve ambitious economic goals, Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) helped setting out a number of partnership protocols and concluding business agreements between Egyptian companies and 17 leading African telecom companies, financial institutions and ICT enterprises, in 6 different African countries, in the framework of “Africa Together” program, Round II.

Africa Together

The program reflects the government commitment to accelerate economic growth by expanding the export footprint of its domestic enterprises and help them penetrate different regions in this fast growing continent. The Egyptian companies began to reap the fruits of the program, custom-tailored to increase their exports, by a number of deals totaling an estimated USD 7 million.

Africa Together Gala Dinner & Deal Closure Ceremony

Over a three-day visit paid by the African delegation, a number of prescheduled one-to-one meetings were held, and site visits to the premises of Egyptian companies were made. On the last day, the visit was finished off with a gala dinner held under the auspices of H.E. Khaled Negm, the Egyptian Minister of ICT, during which ITIDA presented a movie that recapped the program, highlighted the planned initiatives for developing the local IT industry, and featured two keynote speeches by ITIDA’s CEO, Eng. Hussein El-Gueretly and Jyoti Lalchandani, IDC’s group vice president and regional managing director for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa.

As many IT Egyptian enterprises with high potential for exports seek to broaden their market exposure, ITIDA in cooperation with IDC implemented a research led Go-To-Market initiative to build up knowledge of African markets and how to approach them effectively. This included providing Egyptian companies with market analysis of 9 African markets, demand analysis of 160+ African enterprises followed by a matchmaking trip in Kenya where Egyptian companies conducted 800+ one to one business meetings with over 130 African enterprises and customers over 3 days.

“The agency leaves no stone unturned in exploring the ICT African markets in terms of prospects and challenges” ITIDA’s CEO, Eng. Hussein El-Gueretly said. “In pursuit of growth, Egyptian companies made unremitting efforts in studying these opportunities and bringing about real business benefits” he added.

Africa Together; countries involved

Among the signed agreements, Raya Corporation, the Middle East’s largest CIT company based in Cairo, signed business agreements in the field of systems integration with IE Networks as well as Tahses ICT and Consultancy from Ethiopia and the Nigerian Mayakorp.

In the area of field force automation & unified emergency response platform, Softec International partnered with IPMC from Ghana. Also, Smartec inked a contract with the Ghanaian Batiletch in network optimization and home automation while contracted with the Kenyan Sarova Group of Hotels. IT Blocks, the Egyptian software company, agreed with Afcor from Ethiopia and Dhanush Infotech from Kenya on IBM software deployment. BI Technologies signed agreements with Exceed IT Systems from Ethiopia and IPMC from Ghana. Softlock signed with the Nigerian Mayakorp and SystemTrust as well as the Ethiopian Exceed IT Systems.

Additionally, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency and Dhanush Infotech from Kenya partnered with Zas Soft in the area of ERP. Bsystems Ltd from Ghana signed with Infasme while EME International signed agreements to provide enterprise mobile solutions to the Nigerian Netplus and Ouranos Technology Limited as well as the Ghanaian Bsystems. Sumerge will provide enterprise solutions to Mayakorp from Nigeria and the Ethiopian Websprix. Link Development will provide banking, public sector and telecom solutions to Masterpiece Fusion from Kenya.

Hitekenofal, a leading provider of integrated communication network solutions since 1987 in Egypt, agreed to provide communications networking services to Batitech from Ghana, the Ethiopian Websprix and Exceed IT Systems as well as Even Data and Hamms Engineering from Zambia. Soft Trend signed with Mayakorp from Nigeria to provide security solutions.

Africa Together, one of ITIDA’s programs, was launched in last August to support Egyptian companies’ exports of IT services and products targeting the African markets. The premier global market intelligence firm, International Data Corporation (IDC) worked hand-in-hand with ITIDA, the executive IT arm of the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, to give a leg up to Egyptian ICT companies in penetrating high-growth markets across Africa – especially in Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria – through joint partnership and market development efforts.

About Khaled Negm
Khaled Negm is the former Minister of Communications and Information Technology. He was in office from the 5th of March, 2015 till the 19th of September, 2015. He is succeeded by Eng. Yasser ElKady and preceded by Mr. Atef Helmy. Negm has more than 30 years of experience in the ICT sector, and he is specialized in the design of information infrastructure and applications in Egypt, the Middle East and Africa.

For any inquiries, please contact:T: +202 35 34 5210E: arahman[at]itida.gov.eg

Presentation: http://www.apo-mail.org/150527.pptx

Egypt builds upon its outsourcing growth | ICT | Egypt | Oxford Business Group

2014-05-05T04:07:00.001-07:00

Economic News Update from Oxford Business Group, OBG
Over the past 15 years, Egypt has built a growing reputation as a centre for export-oriented ICT services, particularly business and knowledge process outsourcing (BPO and KPO), with revenues that exceeded $1.1bn in 2011, according to a Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) presentation last year.

As with many other service sectors, the BPO and KPO industries were affected by the fallout from the 2011 revolution. Research by the London School of Economics (LSE), Offshoring Unit in early 2013 found that among prominent outsourcing destinations, Egypt’s risk profile was one of the most elevated in the areas of regulatory risks, macroeconomic risks and political risks. A 2013 report on the “Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations” by US-headquartered advisory firm Tholons cited the fallout from the Arab Spring as the main reason for Cairo’s drop from 49 to 58. Alexandria fell four spots to rank 77 in the same analysis.

However, Egypt’s competitive advantages as a global centre for ICT-intensive industries, including BPO and KPO, are manifold. “In spite of the instability, the quality and competitive costs of Egypt’s
outsourcing services have not been impacted,” Giorgio Modesti, CEO of Teleperformance Egypt, said in an interview with OBG.

The local cost advantage is an important factor: labour, land and power are all affordable by international standards. But while workers’ wages are relatively low, the skills base is strong. As well as native Arabic, English is widespread.

Competitive skills and cost

Employment estimates vary but the number of people employed in the sector is about 43,000 positions in total. Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), part of the MCIT, estimates that each year around 273,000 students graduate from Egyptian universities with degrees in fields suited to outsourcing, including technology and commerce, while 31,000 students are fluent in a Western European language on graduation.

As with many outsourcing destinations, such as The Philippines and Morocco, Egypt grapples with finding qualified labour for middle management roles, but MCIT, in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education, has also been in the process of implementing a multi-phase curriculum development and training programme, known as EDUEgypt, at university level to help ensure graduates are able to meet the job requirements of the BPO sector. The programme has been rolled out in 16 universities around the country, with more than 6000 trainees in specialised BPO-related technology-tracks.

Price competitiveness remains an ever-important factor. According to ITIDA, costs for voice-based BPO services in Egypt are comparable to those in India and the Philippines, two global leaders in the sector that have successfully capitalised on low-cost bases. In 2010, the organisation estimated that fully loaded operating costs for call centres stood at $15,830 per employee, compared to $16,360 in the Philippines and $15,010 in India. Of this, personnel costs averaged $9430, with the balance of $6400 accounted for by technology, telecoms, rent and maintenance.

“With its vast dedicated technology and low costs, Egypt is accessible and attractive for global ICT companies, compared with other emerging outsourcing locations,” Maged Taher, CEO of Xceed, told OBG.

Egypt has even taking to exporting some of its BPO expertise to other burgeoning markets, such as Uganda, where the MCIT signed an MOU last year with the Ugandan Ministry of ICT to provide support and guidance for their BPO industry. In spring of 2013, Egypt sent a team of trainers to Uganda to provide technical assistance, and the MOU outlines plans for the further training of 3000 Ugandans employed in the BPO sector in Egypt.

EU market rebounding

European language skills could become an increasingly important tool this year and beyond. Opportunities for Egyptian outsourcing service providers appear to be on the rise, with a slow but steady recovery in the EU. Demand for outsourced services in Europe climbed in the last quarter of 2013, according to a study released in late February by market research firm Everest Group. The report showed that global outsourcing transaction volumes reached their highest point since the
beginning of 2012.

If demand continues to strengthen in the EU alongside more robust growth in the US and the Arab world, Egypt’s attractive fundamentals as a BPO destination, including its cost competitiveness and skill set, should help the country see a jump in both employment and activity over the medium-term.

Egypt: Expanding technology infrastructure | ICT | Africa | Oxford Business Group

2013-04-28T02:10:00.001-07:00

The government is reaffirming Egypt’s commitment to the planned expansion of its broadband infrastructure, in the hopes of spurring new development in technology-based industries. ICT has grown rapidly in Egypt over the past decade, both in terms of take-up by Egyptian consumers and outsourcing and offshoring activity.

OBG

In March 2013 Atef Helmy, the minister of communications and information technology, announced that the first phase of Egypt’s broadband strategy, initially unveiled a year and a half ago, would be completed as expected within the coming two years. The strategy, known as eMisr, focuses not only on infrastructure, with an emphasis on developing high-capacity connections at public venues such as schools and health care facilities, but also increased data storage and access for government agencies.

eMisr was launched in November 2011 with a range of ambitious goals to be met by 2015 and 2021.

Formal implementation began in July 2012 when various task forces set about planning exactly what needed to be done to meet those goals. Around $2.4 bn of public and private investment was envisaged in the first four years of the plan. The eMisr roll-out is expected to generate 11,000 jobs per year and support broad-based economic and social development.

Particularly as Egypt is struggling to re-gain economic momentum, these sorts of enabling investments can have a broad range of positive externalities (In economics, an externality is the cost or benefit that affects a party who did not choose to incur that cost or benefit.). Research by the World Bank has suggested that a 10% increase in broadband penetration can yield an extra 1.38 percentage points of economic growth in emerging markets.

The World Bank

Meanwhile, a report by telecoms firm Ericsson and Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology, published in September 2012, suggested that doubling Egypt’s broadband speed would lead to a 0.3% rise in GDP worth almost $688.59 m, while quadrupling internet speeds would add around $1.38 bn.

It has not, of course, been all smooth sailing. As a result of the broader political uncertainty, pending reforms in the telecoms sector, and the cost and technical challenges of upgrading infrastructure, some goals set for 2015 have been pushed back by at least one year. Initially eMisr estimated 75% of households having access to 2-Mbps broadband and about 98% of the population to have coverage by mobile 3G networks by 2015.

Ensuring physical connections has been one of the primary hurdles to increasing internet penetration. Helmy’s predecessor, Hany Mahmoud, said in October 2012 that infrastructure was the biggest challenge to broadband development. In this regard, Telecom Egypt (TE), the legacy fixed-line operator, was in the process of converting its copper cables to fibre-optics. Plans have also been in place to encourage greater fixed-line competition between TE and the three Egyptian mobile operators, which hitherto has been a monopoly by the 80% state-owned TE.

As well as supporting broader GDP growth, expanding broadband capacity should help Egypt’s export-oriented ICT service sector, particularly the outsourcing and offshoring segments. In recent years, Egypt has become a favoured destination for international companies establishing business and knowledge-process outsourcing centres. Consultancy AT Kearney ranked Egypt fourth in the world on its global services index in 2011.

New investments, however, have been sluggish since the revolution, but with greater political and economic certainty, Egypt’s competitive advantages should re-assert themselves. They include location, a sizable pool of well-educated and multilingual graduates, strengthening international cable connectivity, relatively low overheads, and government support. In March 2013, Helmy announced plans to establish two technology parks in Upper Egypt to support the development of ICT – and specifically outsourcing – in the region.

Karim El Fateh, the country manager at Intel Egypt, told OBG that he sees three challenges for the industry. “Firstly, increasing broadband connectivity, including looking at ways of reducing cost and making the service more affordable, through either monthly or data subscriptions,” he said. “Secondly, increasing local content and applications, and creating the necessary infrastructure to foster innovation of local content, specifically in education, entertainment and services, as innovation can enhance competitiveness, diversify industries, and realise all the benefits of the rapidly expanding market. And lastly, developing financing mechanisms that will allow for commercialisation of our research, innovation and development through the use of private or public technology incubators and investment funds.”

Achieving these goals will require a degree of political certainty and private sector will to invest, both of which have been in short supply in Egypt recently. However, the government and the private sector are both clear about the need to strengthen ICT infrastructure to support domestic demand and economic growth, and to help the export-oriented sector regain its competitive position.

Source: http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/

APA - Azerbaijan’s Minister of Communications and IT meets Egyptian ambassador

2012-08-26T01:23:00.001-07:00

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev – APA-ECONOMICS. Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Ali Abbasov met with the Ambassador of Egypt to Azerbaijan Mansour Saberi.

The meeting focused on the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Egypt in the field of information and communication, visit of Director of Isgandariyya library Ismayil Serageldin to Azerbaijan, presentation of the Kulturama project within the exhibition Bakutel, as well as issues arising from the Tunis Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Egypt and Azerbaijan.

The Ambassador noted that after the presidential elections the new Cabinet was formed in Egypt, and new minister was appointed to the post.

Abbasov noted that the new ambassador would be invited for appointment to the meeting of the Forum of the Ministerial Internet Governance on November 6-10.

The Minister expressed the hope that they would make joint efforts to increase ICT capacity of Egypt and the large-scale ICT projects in Azerbaijan.