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Intel Calls for Achieving Economic Growth through Entrepreneurship
Published Jun 28, 2012
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Intel held its third public awareness session yesterday at El Sawy Cultural Wheel entitled “Turn your dream into reality through entrepreneurship and innovation.” The session is part of Intel’s national initiative, “Egypt Tomorrow - IT vision for a brighter future,” to promote and highlight the important role of technology in empowering youth and reshaping the future of the country. Speakers on the panel included Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre Vice President for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Support Eng. Sally Metwally, Arab Entrepreneur House Founder and Chairman Dr. Nabil Shalaby; Varkon Semiconductors CEO Dr. Ahmed Shalash, and was moderated by Intel Egypt Country Manager Eng. Karim El Fateh.
During the session, speakers explained that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered the cornerstone of Egypt’s economic future and are key drivers of social growth. They also stressed on the importance of supporting this sector by capitalizing on advanced technologies and providing smart growth and innovation solutions in a way that enables these enterprises to globalize their operations and increases their competitiveness.
“Today, technological innovation represents a significant source of competitiveness strength and we must think of technology as a business accelerator. However, technological progress alone will not lead to economic development unless embraced by entrepreneurs. At the same time, entrepreneurs need to make use of all available resources including technology in the best possible manner in order to develop into niche economic players. At Intel, we aim to provide opportunities for people in Egypt to participate in today’s global economy through information and communication technology” said Intel Egypt Country Manager Eng. Karim El Fateh.
ICT is the engine to both economic and social development, not only will it add to Egypt’s social welfare through generating employment and revenue; it serves as a tool to improve the efficiency and productivity of other sectors of the economy through lowering the cost and time of any transaction and therefore enhance the overall competitiveness of the country.
Eng. Sally Metwally said “TIEC was launched in 2010 and at the time our vision was to enable Egypt to become the leading regional hub and world class destination for ICT based innovation and entrepreneurship. Our technology incubation program gives those with ideas the tools to launch.” She added “We are proud to say that Ekshef and Bey2ollak are part of our fostered projects. We encourage all youth with innovative ideas to contact us and our doors are open for everyone to empower themselves, achieve their dreams, and turn them into a successful reality.”
Dr. Nabil Shalaby quoted a Japanese proverb explaining that a vision without action is a daydream while an action without a vision is a nightmare. “Egyptians are funny by nature which makes them good marketers. “Glocalization” is the key to any entrepreneur’s success. By thinking locally and acting globally. Egypt’s leaders need to identify a clear vision for the country’s future while defining its competitive edge. There is a gap in the youth’s life between finishing university and moving starting their career. This gap can be filled by pre incubation centers to avoid limiting their options from a traditional job to thinking innovatively.”
Dr. Nabil suggested establishing Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDA) that would help in providing training and coaching as well as enable sharing resources which will result in decreasing costs.
Dr. Ahmed Shalash discussed the obstacles that face entrepreneurs “to be a successful entrepreneur you need to achieve four things: 1. The right people, 2. The right place, 3. The right time and 4. persistence. If you have an idea you have to take initiative and remain determined and consistent.” He added “it is very important to know when to begin, entrepreneurs need to build their experience first. Working for large companies first does not mean throwing your ideas away but it could be a step to gather enough information and experience.”
According to a recent ICT indicators report issued by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Egyptian internet users have drastically increased now reaching 30.94 million users in March 2012 in comparison to 23.5 million in January 2011, with an internet penetration rate of 37.92%. A new Arab Advisors Group survey of Egypt's Internet users revealed that around 22.4% of Internet users in the country use e-commerce services to buy products or services or pay their bills online in February 2012.
Intel’s “Egypt Tomorrow - IT vision for a brighter future” initiative has been running for over a year and aims at tackling how ICT can help in the development of the country in different sectors to include: Education, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Infrastructure and Research & Development.
Posted by
VMD - [Virtual Marketing Department]
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