THE EGYPTIANS ARE FIGHTING FOR EUROPE

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

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

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

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

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