IDC Announces Opening of New Regional Research Center in Egypt

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

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

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