Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), through the International Data Corporation (IDC) is seeking to foster greater collaboration between Egyptian ICT companies and their counterparts from East and West Africa.

Towards this end, the  ‘Africa Together’,  event took place at Nairobi’s Safari Park Hotel and brought together senior IT professionals from Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Zambia for a day of intensive executive-level networking, with Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communications and Technology, Dr. Fred O. Matiang’i, attending as the guest of honor.

Held under the patronage of Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the event provided delegates with a unique platform for discovering the latest global ICT trends and learning from the experiences of their peers across the African continent. During the course of the day, IDC facilitated a series of one-on-one matchmaking activities that enabled Egyptian ICT providers to hold in-depth discussions with a wide variety of channels and end-user organizations and explore the potential for developing mutually beneficial business partnerships in new markets across East and West Africa.

Economic growth, digital transformation, and foreign investment are increasing across the African continent, with the region’s IT spending growth outpacing the worldwide average by a considerable margin. However, the pace of this growth brings its own challenges, particularly as most of these markets face critical shortages in terms of technology skills, and only a handful of domestic African IT companies can scale sufficiently to support very large, transformative projects. Egypt, by contrast, boasts an abundant and diverse talent pool, cost-effective skills and solutions, and is increasingly being considered as a global player and competitive sourcing destination for the world’s leading corporations.

“By combining IDC’s unrivalled ability to track the latest market developments with ITIDA’s mission to enhance Egypt’s reputation as a global ICT sourcing hub, our joint ‘Africa Together’ initiative is uniquely positioned to facilitate profitable partnerships between Egyptian ICT companies and their counterparts across East and West Africa,” says Jyoti Lalchandani, vice president and managing director at IDC Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. “The overwhelming success of the ‘Go to GCC’ program in 2010 highlights our proven track record in this regard, and our joint efforts here today have enabled more than 50 handpicked African ICT solution providers and decision makers to bridge the skills and solutions gaps that exist in their own markets.”

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