Though there is no fixed or exclusive definition of a tech startup, the term has apparently acquired wide recognition as denoting a young business mostly motivated by an interest in engaging in innovation and inspired by a hope for growth. As such, the definition applies to one-person entities or minimally-staffed businesses, especially in view of the observation that a considerable number of today’s prospering tech companies had originally emerged as startups or small businesses but have all the time been innovation-driven. The observation explains the widening global trend of aiding not only the emergence but also growth of startups. In the case of Egypt, encouragement of tech startups has taken many forms. First, it has been established as a state orientation, making administrative and material support increasingly available for tech startups. Secondly, such innovation-driven entities have been included in the Digital Egypt Initiative which inter alia offers training opportunities to young people operating or wishing to operate in tech and digital fields. Thirdly, the state has welcomed the organisation of exhibitions and fairs where startups can reach out to a larger base of users, in effect boosting their financial resources and enhancing their potentials for growth. Fourthly, encouraging the spread of tech startups has been included in the functions of the Communications and Information Technology Ministry. Then came last week’s presidential directives to permit the establishment of such startups just by online notification – a move that facilitates the administrative procedures for innovation-driven startups and promotes the growth of such entities in number as well as the quality of output.
Tech and digital startups, especially CIT ones, certainly constitute some of the country’s key elements for the achievement of inclusive digital transformation which represents a pillar in building Egypt as a modern society capable of improving the quality of life for citizens and ensuring the sustainability of development with all its human, economic and social components. Evidencing this trend has been the keenness that the state has reflected on invoking digital transformation as a basic factor in planning new cities and urban communities. And the trend has in fact been intensively enhanced with the drive initiated over the past few years to build an efficient infra-structure for the digital transformation. Furthermore, the state has sought to enrich the process of digital transformation by encouraging the founding of such specialised higher education institutions as the Egypt Informatics University, in addition to promoting the introduction of tech and digital departments in many universities. This particular aspect of the national project for digital transformation implies the advantages of furthering the competitiveness of the startups, companies and human resources given that the high the quality of this sector’s products and human skills the larger the potential for reaching out to markets abroad will be. In the world of today, competitiveness in global markets is increasingly becoming a considerable driver for elevating the standards of local products; and digital services are doubtlessly a key component of a country’s production capabilities; hence the plausibility and worthiness of supporting the growth of tech and digital startups.
Discussion about this post