The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has opened the new SAP office in Egypt.
This comes within the framework of the strategy of SAP, the global leader in enterprise software, for expanding regionally and contributing to accelerating digital transformation in the Egyptian public and private sectors, along with delivering specialized services and expertise across more than 25 sectors.
The German Ambassador to Egypt Frank Hartmann, the Deputy ICT Minister for Infrastructure Raafat Hindy, the Chairman of the Egyptian National Post Organization (ENPO) Sherif Farouk, the CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Amr Mahfouz, the member of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of SAP SE Luka Mucic, Senior Vice President of SAP Middle East South Sergio Maccotta, and Managing Director for SAP Egypt Mohamed Samy, in addition to several officials of the government and private sectors attended the opening ceremony.
SAP new office in Egypt includes three strategic regional hubs serving customers across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), namely SAP Services and Support center of excellence, which supports digital transformation, “Digital Hub” that focuses on mid-market customers, and “Potential Sales Hub,” concerned with managing potential customers and implementing campaigns according to the best standards.
In his remarks, the ICT Minister emphasized that SAP’s new expansions in Cairo reflect the confidence of international companies in the Egyptian ICT sector, which is full of promising investment opportunities. He explained that the ICT sector is witnessing unprecedented growth, as the growth rates in each financial quarter have not been less than 16% during the past three years. ICT is also the fast-growing state sector. Talaat pointed out that the Digital Egypt Strategy for Offshoring Industry was launched. Unprecedented incentives are provided through this strategy to the companies which are looking forward to working in Egypt through outsourcing to export digital services.
Talaat added that a set of work pillars are being implemented to attract international companies to expand their business in Egypt and benefit from Egyptian calibers in the ICT sector, foremost of which is the development of the information infrastructure. More than 60 billion EGP were invested in the ICT field during the past three years, which resulted in Egypt taking the leading position in the average fixed internet speed in Africa.
The ICT Minister underlined the initiatives implemented by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in partnership with international technology companies operating in Egypt. These initiatives are aimed at creating in-depth calibers in all ICT disciplines, such as the “Future Work is Digital” (FWD) initiative, which aims to train 100,000 youth within 18 months in various ICT disciplines and honing their soft skills to enhance their competitive capabilities in the local and global markets. This is in addition to establishing Egypt University of Informatics (EUI), the first specialized university in ICT sciences and related fields in Africa.
MCIT also cooperates with top international universities to create a quantum leap in specialized digital calibers. Talaat underlined that Digital Egypt Builders Initiative (DEBI) was launched, which is a comprehensive program for one year to grant a Master's degree from one of the top international universities.
The ICT Minister stated that MCIT is implementing Digital Egypt projects. These projects include various aspects to develop governmental efficiency, especially with the implementation of the project to move to the New Administrative Capital as a participatory paperless government that fully works in a digitized system. Digital Egypt platform was also launched. The number of services provided by the platform reached more than 125 digital services.
The ICT Minister referred to the plans of developing Egypt Post in terms of structure and services, especially as it is one of the pillars of implementing the Digital Egypt strategy. He pointed out that three thousand post offices have been developed nationwide. Moreover, a new package of financial services provided by Egypt Post has been launched, and work is underway to expand the financial and postal services portfolio.
Talaat expressed his aspiration for further expansion of SAP business as well as the activities of international companies operating in the Egyptian ICT sector.
Hartmann expressed his pride in the experience of the “evolving partnership between SAP and the Egyptian market”, witnessing the positive impact “that SAP continues to make on Egypt’s business community, not just in technology, but in helping organizations from a diversity of sectors run better to serve their customers and develop new services and efficiencies”.
“Over the decades, SAP has drawn on global industry expertise and latest innovations to support our Egyptian customers of all sizes with targeted solutions to meet their ambitions and help address their challenges,” stated Samy. “The growing adoption of cloud solutions and the dynamism of Egypt’s continued digital transformation encourages SAP’s entire team, along with our partners, to support and develop the next generation of leading organizations and professionals in this country,” he added.
During the opening ceremony of SAP new office in Business Park in Cairo Festival City, SAP officials emphasized in their remarks the compatibility between SAP’s activities and the Digital Egypt strategy about continuing investment aimed at enabling digital agenda in the public and private sectors, along with developing technological skills of Egyptian youth. They also indicated how the RISE with SAP solutions contribute to the desired transformation in Egyptian institutions and companies to become smart facilities operating on a single platform using the latest technological innovations hosted on local cloud data centers. They highlighted the ways that SAP supports the young talents who shape the future of the labor market in the country, by equipping them with digital skills.
SAP announced that it is working closely with one of its global partners to establish a private cloud data center in Egypt. Additionally, SAP is currently in the process of reviewing a data center to certify and ratify it to host SAP Private Cloud solutions. This investment underscores the market demand and Egypt’s government vision to accelerate their digital transformation in the cloud, enabled by the latest technology and a rapid shift in business.
SAP is also looking forward to enhancing cooperation with the Egyptian government, aligning with Egypt’s digital transformation goals and associated fields, such as upskilling of local talent, and providing the latest technology innovations. As a part of this cooperation, SAP is working towards a strategic framework agreement with MCIT.
It is worth noting that 77% of all worldwide business transactions touch an SAP system. Its advancing breakthrough technologies, like Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced software analytics, are helping companies become intelligent enterprises.
