ITIDA Takes Center Stage in Fostering Egypt’s Tech Startups and Nurturing the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem, the CEO Pronounces

CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), Engineer Ahmed Elzaher, has participated in the ninth edition of Techne Summit 2023. The event was held at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, during the period from the 7th to the 10th of October 2023, under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), (ITIDA), the Digital Economy and Technology General Division – DETGD, and the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC).

Speaking at the panel of “Revolutionizing Corporate Innovation: Navigating Technological Transformation, Startup Collaborations, and Strategic Acquisitions”, ElZaher showcased the agency’s influence and leading role it plays in nurturing the tech-innovation startup and boosting the local entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt. “ITIDA aims to create a supportive business environment for the local startups in Egypt in light of the ministry of CIT’s strategic pillar of empowering entrepreneurs and growing the startup ecosystem.

ElZaher affirmed that ITIDA’s support extends to offering services that span across the entire value chain and the whole lifecycle of the startups stating form promoting the culture of entrepreneurship, especially among the student community. Additionally, ITIDA offers incubation and pre-incubation services that extend to supporting startups to penetrate global markets and matchmaking these startups with potential investors.

ElZaher noted that ITIDA has thus far trained 11k of the local talent in areas of the entrepreneurship during 2023 across its Digital innovation hubs (CREATIVA) spread across the country where ITIDA offers a variety of programs and services to around 400 technology / technology-enabled startups.

He added: “We offer various programs attending to the different stages and segments of the startup ecosystem, such as the Women Entrepreneurship Program (Heya Ra’ydaa), a program dedicated to empowering and supporting early-stage women entrepreneurs with tech ideas, in addition to incubation programs for high-tech startups.”

ElZaher explained that cooperation with multinational and local companies is an integral element of ITIDA’s work, as it partners with many companies to support the startup sector. He pointed to ITIDA’s cooperation with a leading tech company to establish and equip the first Industry 4.0 Innovation Center (IIC) in Egypt, in the Knowledge City at the New Administrative Capital, which will be inaugurated soon.

On the sidelines of his participation in the summit, ElZaher met with a group of TIEC Innovation Ambassador (TIEC-IA) program. ITIDA CEO praised their efforts and stressed the importance of the role they play in realizing ITIDA’s goal of of spreading the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.  

During Techne Summit 2023, ITIDA sponsors the participation of 20 startups, including 10 exhibiting companies under the pavilion of ITIDA and the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC) at the summit, in addition to supporting the participation of 10 startups in the activities of the summit in order to help them network and meet up with potential investors to support their entrepreneurial projects.

Techne Summit Alexandria offers an intensive program of diverse activities over four days that includes more than 80 discussion sessions and 50 interactive workshops. The summit brings together more than 300 speakers, 220 investors, and 145 exhibiting startups and companies to delve into discussions on tech, innovation, and investment across 10 distinct tracks that cover diversified fields and sectors.