Dubai: Egyptian small and medium sized tech firms exhibiting at Gitex Technology Week in Dubai have said they struggle to grow their business because Egypt lacks educated human capital and the necessary investment framework despite government efforts.
A number of Egyptian firms exhibiting at the Egyptian government sponsored Egypt On pavilion told Gulf News they have to outsource employment outside the country and cannot rely on the country’s investment climate to sustain company growth.
Egypt On, organised by the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), is subsidising around 70 per cent of exhibiting costs for 25 small and medium sized firms at this year’s Gitex. ITIDA falls under the umbrella of the Ministry of Communications Information and Technology.
Ayman N. Elgendy, chief executive officer of e-business solutions, a web developing firm of seven employees, said he has to outsource some of his work to freelancers in India and the United States.
E-business solutions is participating at Gitex alongside Cloud 11, an Egyptian firm that offers cloud storage services, which Elgendy also works for.
Elgendy said there needs to be a push to encourage more Egyptian high school leavers to undertake tech-related studies at university.
Ahmad Y. Mansour, General Manager of Netlogic IDX, a company that provides call centre managements systems, said the company also struggles to recruit employees with the necessary skills.
Challenge
It is difficult to find software developers in the Egypt, he said.
But Mostafa Al Gabry, chief executive of Kabeer Software Industries, a company of 45 employees that offers web based hospital management systems, disagrees with Elgendy and Mansour.
“In Egypt you’re not facing the challenge of finding employees because there is a revolution in information technology,” he said.
He said a major issue was that not enough was being done to promote Egyptian products overseas, which he said is why small tech firms from the Arab world’s most populous country have struggled to break into the UAE market.
All three companies had never done business with the UAE before Gitex, while two have contracts in Saudi Arabia.
Al Gabry, critical of Egypt’s investment climate, said “there is a lot be done” by the government to “create the proper climate for investors”.
