Egypt's Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) has announced that 21 local IT companies have been qualified for the CBI's Export Coaching Program, according to an official statement on Wednesday. This step came after the 21 companies had passed the review stages by the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI) of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The three-year program aims primarily to support local Egyptian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) working in Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) business on their export journey to the EU countries to fulfil the European high demand for ICT professionals. The global and local experts will coach and assist beneficiary SMEs to devise market entry strategies. In addition, guidance and advice on certification types relevant to their strategies will be given. CBI's ITO project will also assist companies to enhance their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It will additionally provide market orientation support, and export business opportunities. Moreover, CBI will finance most of the project costs while the selected companies will only bear the cost of travel expenses for European market entry activities; investment in product offers, employees, and certification. The CBI's Export Coaching Program is offering technical assistance through practical business export coaching targets developing the exports of innovative IT products and services such as software and mobile applications. The program comes within the framework of an agreement between CBI and ITIDA in collaboration with the Chamber of Information Technology and Communications (CIT), Eitesal Association and Nile University. Egypt has witnessed an increase in its appeal to investors since the government launched a new incentive scheme for foreign investments in light of the Digital Egypt Strategy for the Offshoring Industry 2022-2026. Egypt offers the largest and youngest multilingual talent pool in the Middle East and second largest in EMEA region. Each year, over 600,000 graduates join the workforce; 80 percent of the working population speak English and other European languages compared to 20-65 percent in other leading offshore destinations. The qualified Egyptian companies list is below: Pharos Solutions Turndigital eSpace for Software Development Appsinnovate Marketeers Research BBI Edge-Pro for information Systems 700 APPS Youxel Technology S.A.E Silicon Mind Webkeyz Raye7 egabi Solutions eVision Robusta Studio SmartTech Systems Brightskies Technologies Worex Technology Cyber Force Optomatica Data Gear
