Egypt's Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) has announced that 21 local IT companies have been qualified for the CBI's Export Coaching Programme after passing the review stages by the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI) of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The programme aims primarily at supporting local Egyptian SMEs working in the IT outsourcing business on their export journey to the EU countries in a move to fulfill the European high and growing demand for ICT professionals which cannot be fully met within Europe.
The CBI's Export Coaching Programme is offering technical assistance through practical business export coaching targets developing the exports of innovative IT products and services such as software and mobile applications. The programme comes within the framework of an agreement between the CBI and ITIDA in collaboration with the Chamber of Information Technology and Communications (CIT), Eitesal Association, and Nile University (NU).
The duration of the program extends to three years, during which global and local experts will coach and assist beneficiary SMEs to devise market entry strategies. In addition, guidance and advice on certification types relevant to their strategies will be given.
Egypt has seen an increase in its appeal to investors since the government launched a new incentive scheme for foreign investments in light of the Digital Egypt Strategy for the Offshoring Industry 2022-2026. The current geopolitical scene works in favor of Egypt and seamlessly guides investors and global service providers toward the country, being an ideal offshoring destination and global digital services delivery hub for the EMEA region.
Perfectly fit with the EU need, Egypt offers the largest and youngest multilingual talent pool in the Middle East and second largest in the EMEA region. Each year, over 600,000 graduates join the workforce (80% of the working population speak English and other European languages compared to 20-65% in other leading offshore destinations).
The CBI's ITO project will also assist companies to enhance their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It will additionally provide market orientation support, and export business opportunities. The CBI will finance most of the project costs while the selected companies will only bear the cost of travel expenses for European market entry activities; investment in product offers, employees, and certification.
The qualified Egyptian companies are Pharos Solutions, Turndigital, eSpace for Software Development, Appsinnovate, Marketeers Research, BBI, Edge-Pro for information Systems, 700 APPS, Youxel Technology S.A.E, Silicon Mind, Webkeyz, Raye7, egabi Solutions, eVision, Robusta Studio, SmartTech Systems, Brightskies Technologies, Worex Technology, Cyber Force, Optomatica, and Data Gear.
