Egypt launches digital transformation initiative for SMEs

CAIRO – 20 July 2020: Egypt's Minister of Public Business Sector Hesham Tawfik, witnessed the launch of the "Digital Future" initiative which aims to enable medium and small companies in Egypt to cope with the digital transformation.

The initiative was launched by the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Business Sector and Microsoft and Fiber Misr Systems.

Tawfik pointed out that the cooperation between the Ministry of Public Business Sector and the General Federation of Chambers of Commerce in the "Digital Future" initiative represents a first precedent in transferring the experiences of the public business sector to private sector companies, referring to the digital transformation project implemented by the ministry in its subsidiaries and includes more than 20 contracts with international and local companies to implement it.

“This confirms the ministry's previously announced policy that its ambitious program for digital transformation will attract and move about 30 percent of the job market in the field of information technology, in line with the state's policy of digitization.”

The minister noted that the digital transformation program includes 4 main axes, the first of which is the preparation of digital policies and procedures that were completed in November 2019, and the second axis is the applications of corporate resource planning and management (ERP) with investments of $ 50 million for licenses and services and contracts were signed in January 2020, while the third axis He specializes in the data center and technical support at a cost of $ 3 million annually, followed by the fourth axis, which is training competencies in managing the system.

The Ministry of Public Business Sector had signed in May a cooperation protocol with the Cairo Chamber of Commerce (Division of Digital Economy and Technology), to transfer the ministry's experience in the field of digital transformation and provide this service at the lowest prices for startups and small companies.

For his part, Mohamed Masoud, advisor for digital transformation at the Ministry of Public Business Sector, explained that the ministry has negotiated with international companies and selected the best of them in an initiative with the Cairo Chamber of Commerce to provide ERP programs for startups and small companies with a symbolic monthly subscription with technology from Microsoft and with the support of the integrated services company "Fiber Misr", as this service is the cheapest because it does not contain any additional expenses and includes full technical support.

The "Digital Future" is the first initiative of its kind focused on small and medium-sized companies, as it provides this growing segment of the business sector in Egypt with professional planning and organization services for institutional resources.

The initiative will provide SMEs with an innovative concept that provides them with the latest technologies at an affordable price, as it will be responsible for qualifying technology providers to work with these companies and facilitating payment procedures in addition to providing professional support services to end users.