The Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali and the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat have participated in an introductory meeting on “Wazeefa Tech” initiative. It aims at increasing the number of qualified calibers to join the labor market in the ICT field.

The meeting was organized by the Egyptian Information, Telecommunications, Electronics, and Software Alliance (EITESAL ) in cooperation with the Information Technology Institute (ITI) and the National Telecommunication Institute (NTI) to shed light on the achievements and contribute to raise awareness of the initiative, thus achieving greater participation from the private sector in the next phases.

The meeting was attended by Senior Vice Chairman of Nasser Social Bank Sharif Farouk, ITI Chairwoman Heba Saleh, NTI Acting Director Iman Ashour, Eitesal Chairman Hazem El Tahawy, and representatives of the companies participating in the initiative’s phase one partners. This is in addition to a great number of youth and ICT staff.

The initiative comes as a result of the cooperation between the Ministry of Social Solidarity, represented by Nasser Social Bank and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). According to the initiative, the trainee gets a well-paying job after successfully completing the three-month training, in which Nasser bank offers soft loans with no interest or administrative expenses. MCIT bears the loan banking commitments on condition that the trainee repays the loan after getting the job, from their salary through installments for up to three years, provided that no installment would be paid unless the trainee gets hired, and after one month of hiring.

Wali said that this initiative has been created thanks to MCIT. It will help bridge the gap between youth, who seeks a job opportunity, and employers. She pointed out that Egypt’s population has exceeded 100 million, most of which are youth in need of opportunity, training and qualification. She added that the fund for the initiative reaches EGP 100 million, subject to increase, making a good opportunity for ICT training companies.

Wali said that “Wazeefa Tech” selected 167 young people, 91 of which are from Cairo, 14 from Alexandria, and 15 from Upper Egypt, distributed over 20 governorates. She pointed out that the initiative is an important experience, and its success requires that we should support it. It is also an opportunity for Nasser bank to participate in a new solidarity field.
                                                                                                                                                              
She expressed her pleasure for participating in launching the initiative, which she described as a good start for 2019, and pledged to support it through the next phase.

On his part, Talaat praised the fruitful cooperation with the Ministry of Social Solidarity and a number of local and international companies to implement the initiative in the framework of achieving Egypt’s strategy of building the Egyptian person. It aims at achieving a developable and sustainable model, to help create new job opportunities and increase the number of qualified calibers to join the labor market, with companies being responsible for training and recruiting.

He added that the initiative will help keep up with the rapid developments in the labor market and its needs, and bridge the gap between the ICT industry requirements and educational outputs, through linking training and career paths. He pointed out that the initiative is a good model for a work system that engages both the governmental sector, represented by MCIT and Ministry of Social Solidarity, and the private sector, represented by international companies that participate in the initiative, and civil society organizations operating in the ICT field, that promote the initiative and raise awareness of it.

Talaat stated that launching “Wazeefa Tech” would not have been possible without the Ministry of Social Solidarity’s cooperation. He thanked Nasser Social Bank for its vital role in the initiative, as well as EITESAL for its effective promotion.

Job opportunities are expected to reach up to 1600 in phase one, including 28 specializations, offered by a number of ICT companies. Applications for the jobs can be submitted through MCIT website, which includes the websites of the companies participating in phase one.