1. Information and Communication Technologies
for Development (ICT4D)
Acacia
ICTs for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
Development in Egypt
(IDRC project No. 103848)
Project Profile
Economic Development is dependent on the use of information technologies and on
an economy of knowledge. In fact, it is imperative for the companies to capture data-
processing tools and communication and information technologies in fields such as
promotion, communication, management and training. M/SMEs are still dependent
on traditional means in their operations. According to the Arab Human Development
Report, 90% of the Arab economy depends on M/SMEs. In Egypt, 99% of the non-
agricultural companies are M/SMEs, constituting 80% of the companies in the private
sector and cash for 66% of the whole of the labour of the country. The development
of M/SMEs is thus a priority for any government that would like to ensure its
economic development.
The Egyptian companies face competition which is galloping forward at the national
and regional level like in all other emerging economies. The competition posed by
the Asian companies on the ground even regarding the local and traditional Egyptian
products is huge in terms of quality and price. The Egyptian government also aims
to promote exports of its products to highly competitive and very demanding markets
like the European market. Thus, mastering the use of ICTs is seen as one of the
basic elements for increased competitiveness of the Egyptian companies on the
national, regional and international market. Faced with a narrow and progressively
shrinking market that is increasingly being subjected to intense foreign competition, it
is urgent for SMEs, and the private sector in general, to develop their operations so
as to become up to international standards.
The Arab Human Development Report mentions a study that was conducted in 192
countries which concludes that human and social capital are 64% behind economic
growth whereas material capital contributes to only 16% of this growth and the
remainder is due to the capital of natural resources. In this context, the Egyptian M/
SMEs must ensure the development of their technological capacities, access to
information and utilization of intelligence and adopt ICTs in their daily operations in
order to maintain their existence and become competitive.
This project aims at developing the capacities of the micro, small and medium-sized
Egyptian companies (M/SMEs) through the use of the ICTs. The ultimate goal is to
make it possible for the Egyptian M/SMEs to generate more employment and to
become more competitive and more effective at the national and international levels.
By doing this, the project will allow a better comprehension of the advantages of
ICTs for the development of M/SMEs in Egypt.

2. In this project, the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information
Technologies has proposed to take the lead - under the direction of the ICT Trust
Fund – in implementing a series of actions aiming at helping M/SMEs to adopt ICTs.
By doing this, an important bulk of knowledge, analyses and data will be produced in
order to come up with lessons learned on the strategies and the approaches for the
appropriate adoption of ICTs by the M/SMEs in Egypt. The project will also produce
tools that will assess the capacities of these companies, as well as tools to assist
them in adopting and benefiting from ICT and will give attention to women
contractors in order to encourage the presence and the success of the women in the
management of M/SMEs.
Moreover, the project will offer the participating Egyptian M/SMEs a set of software
data-processing tools accompanied with documents that will assist them in
appropriately using these tools. This software will be primarily free software available
in-line with the needs expressed by the companies. In this regard, the research team
will assess the needs of companies based on the economic sector they belong to.
Project Objectives
In general, this proposed project intends to:
• Build capacity of Egyptian M/SMEs to leverage Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) in order to generate employment and create efficient, better-
connected and more competitive enterprises.
• Through NGOs involvement, identify new socio-economic opportunities that can
be leveraged through ICTs.
• Establish and maintain a self-supporting Information Society for M/SMEs to
encourage employment generation entrepreneurship.
• Foster the understanding of the benefits of ICTs by M/SMEs, while actively
promoting their usage; and
• Assist M/SMEs in connecting to new markets, and have a multiplier effect where
the target group creates momentum and raises the standard for the utilization of
ICTs in Egypt.
Other specific objectives include:
• Elaborate and administer a study of M/SMEs needs in terms of ICTs and training.
• Conduct an awareness program on the benefits of ICTs for M/SMEs
development.
• Create and deliver a training program.
• Test and assess the role of NGOs in helping M/SMEs to adopt ICTs.
• Promote the delivery of some goods and services online.
• Create and deliver an Awards program to promote the use of ICTs by M/SMEs in
Egypt.
• Test the use of Mobile devices to deliver information to M/SMEs in Egypt.
• and assess the impact of ICTs on M/SMEs development.
Expected Results
Primarily, the anticipated results will be in the form of a set of tools making it possible
to evaluate the needs of companies in terms of ICTs and trainings on ICTs; a series
of training courses and a series of analysis tools.

3. The development results are actually the enabled companies and their capacity to
make better use of ICTs to increase their competitiveness. This anticipated result will
be measured by the application of the different evaluation tools envisaged and the
result will be known and disseminated. However, the resulting tools will be
registered while conducting the research project especially that registration usually
takes several years of use.
The real impact on the companies will be perceptible two or three years after the
training, the adoption of ICTs and their use in daily work. The project will develop a
software kit based on solutions available in OpenSource. This kit will be
downloadable for free on the Web site of the project.
Duration and Amount
Duration: June 2006 – July 2008
Amount: 450,000 CAD
For additional information, please contact:
Mohab Hallouda Dr. Adel El-Zaim
United Nations Development Program Senior Program Officer
(UNDP) IDRC-Cairo Office
World Trade Centre, 4th floor, Corniche El- P.O. Box 14, Orman, Cairo, Egypt
Nil, Cairo - Egypt Tel: +20 2 336 7051/2/3/4
Tel: +20-2-3088218 Fax: +20 2 3367056
Fax: +20-2-3088166 e-mail: aelzaim@idrc.org.eg
e-mail: mhallouda@mcit.gove.eg