Egypt’s Digital Economy is Expected to Reach a Record $3.5 Billion in 2017

Egypt’s digital economy is set to reach a record-high of EGP 62 billion ($3.5 billion) in 2017, leading organisations announced yesterday September 12 at the Egypt Inspire event hosted by enterprise application software company SAP. 

The event, which gathered Egyptian decision-makers such as Injaz Egypt’s CEO Dina Mofti, and AUC’s Venture Labs Ayman Ismail to discuss and debate the future of business innovation - from AI to blockchain, machine learning, and the Internet of Things, and was the launchpad for the announcement of a new investment plan for Egypt, crowned with the appointment of SAP’s new Managing Director for Egypt, Cherif Morcos.

“Egypt’s economy is rebounding, and 2018 will be a vital year for organisations to undergo digital transformation,” Morcos said at the event. According to Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the ICT sector’s contribution to the national GDP is currently at EGP 56 billion ($3.1 billion), which means that with a 10 percent annual growth, the contribution could reach a record-high of EGP 62 billion in 2017.

As more and more incubators and supporting organisations jump into the entrepreneurial bandwagon - including the United Nations’ Social Fund for Development's loan of over EGP 3 billion to 150,000 micro-businesses and 15,000 small businesses - experts affirm small businesses will be at the helm of Egypt’s technology-backed economic growth.

“Public-private partnerships are essential for Egypt’s nationwide digital transformation to deliver sustainable economic, social, and environmental growth” said Mr. Ahmed Abd El Sattar, Group CIO, Qalaa Holdings, while EOH argued that the cloud will usher in new business insights and transform the citizen and customer experience, especially for SMEs.

With the cloud, SMEs can gain the same levels of business competitiveness as large enterprises. We are exchanging smart tools and global resources for Egypt’s organisations to build for the future,” said Islam Youssef, Chief Technology Officer at EOH. Cloud services will align with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology’s ICT 2030 Strategy to unlock more growth opportunities for organisations of all sizes and verticals.

Aiming to support Egypt’s digital economy, the SAP Training and Development Institute has just launched the WINnovate design thinking program, setting off to embed a culture of innovation across organisations. The Institute also supports partnership with educational institutions, startups, and a Dual Study Program partnership with the German University in Cairo.