The licenses that will be awarded to up to 3 companies will allow them to provide e-signature certificates, e-seal, and time stamp services for both individuals and businesses, according to ITIDA
Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) issued on Thursday new licenses for local firms to provide e-signature services.
The licenses, which will be granted to up to three companies, will allow recipients to provide e-signature certificates, e-seal, and time stamp services for both individuals and businesses, according to ITIDA.
ITIDA said that the statement of work will be available at its premise at the smart village through the coming Tuesday, 9 March, for an amount of EGP 40,000.
The statement of work includes the general and financial regulations and conditions stipulated by ITIDA for registration.
It also announced that applicants must be local firms working inside Egypt and meet all conditions and guarantees stipulated in law number 15 of 2004 and its bylaws, in addition to providing all required documents.
The ITIDA is committed to observing all substantive and technical conditions and all the regulations specified by law no.15 for the year 2004 and its executive regulations, according to the statement.
The issuing of additional e-signature services licenses is one of a series of initiatives and policies led by ITIDA that aim to support Egypt’s digital transformation.
ITIDA’s CEO Amr Mahfouz said the issuing of additional e-signature licenses comes in response to the fast development witnessed in the local information technology sector and also to further enhance Egypt’s digital readiness.
Mahfouz explained that the new licenses will enable the spread of high-security e-signature services’ usage to meet the increasing and unprecedented demand across all sectors.
The ITIDA will host a series of Q&A sessions to answer all applicants' queries in March, according to the statement.
After the deadline for submitting bids, the ITIDA will commence reviewing and evaluating all bids by a committee of specialists and experts, and results will be officially announced soon afterwards.
The ITIDA said that it is committed to awarding licenses in a period not exceeding 60 days from the date of submitting license applications, and after the submission of all required documents, unless ITIDA decides to extend applications grace-- period.
The ITIDA licenses will be valid for three years.
The e-signature law was issued in 2004 to support Egypt’s e-commerce industry by securing the internet as a legally viable medium for digital transactions in order to boost digital transformation in all state sectors.
The bylaws of the e-signature law No. 361 of 2020 have been amended under the decision of the communications and information technology minister to accelerate Egypt’s digital transformation adoption, strengthen the central role of e-signatures in developing the efficiency of administrative work, improve government services, and add to Egypt’s competitiveness globally.
In 2020, Egypt was ranked among the top 10 improvers in Roland Berger’s Digital Inclusion Index.
The index measures and analyses levels of digital inclusiveness in 82 countries across the globe based on their scores across four digital inclusion levers: accessibility, affordability, ability, and attitude.
source: Ahramhram
International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its forecast for the Egyptian economy for 2020/2021 to 2.8 percent, from 2 percent in its forecast in June 2020.
In the report of the first review of the Credit Standards Arrangement Program for Egypt, the IMF expected the growth of the Egyptian economy by about 5.5 percent during the fiscal years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023.
According to the report, the growth of the Egyptian economy in 2024/25 is expected to reach 5.8 percent, after recording 5.6 percent in 2023/24.
The report pointed out that the abolition of closure measures and partial curfew in Egypt helped to show the Egyptian economy "early signs of recovery" after a more moderate slowdown than expected.
Egypt was one of the few countries that recorded growth during 2020, and the report estimated the growth of the Egyptian economy in 2020 by 1.5 percent.
On the other hand, this will mean that the 2022/2021 fiscal year will witness less dramatic growth, as the recovery is expected to start sooner than expected.
For his part, Minister of Finance,Mohamed Maait, indicated that the results of the consultations conducted by the IMF mission on the performance of the Egyptian economy, through video technology, during the period from 4 to 18 November 2020, confirmed the recovery of the Egyptian economy from the effects of the "pandemic", exceeding fund experts’ previous expectations, which opens the door for Egypt to obtain additional financing of $ 1.6 billion, as soon as the IMF Board of Governors approves the results of the review, which will be presented to the Board within weeks.
In May, Egypt received $ 2.77 billion from the International Monetary Fund, which represents the value of the rapid credit financing granted to the Egyptian government.
In June, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund finally approved the disbursement of a loan to Egypt worth $5.2 billion (equivalent to 3.76 billion special drawing units) for a year, within the framework of the "credit preparedness agreement" tool, to meet the financing needs of the balance of payments resulting from the "Covid-19 epidemic".
source: egypttoday
Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea announced that investors applying for industrial units in the seven new industry clusters will be granted a six-month reprieve from rent.
The six-month reprieve will come into effect once the investors receive their units at the industry clusters recently offered by the Industrial Development Authority (IDA).
Gamea said that the decision aims to relieve the burdens on small enterprises and investors, whilst giving them the opportunity to start their projects.
The minister also announced a two-week extension on the submission period for applications to obtain industrial units in the seven new clusters. The period will now come to a close on 12 December, to give investors an opportunity to prepare feasibility studies for their projects.
Gamea said that the rent set for new units are very affordable for small manufacturers and investors, and that the state has been keen to provide these units at a lower price than the cost. The governmental move aims to support young people, as these clusters were not launched for making a profit.
She also said that the executive regulations under the Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development Law are being drawn up. This represents a significant improvement in terms of facilities, advantages, and investment opportunities that will provide help for young investors working in this promising sector to develop their projects.
Moreover, IDA Chairperson Mohamed Al-Zalat said that the authority is keen to constantly communicate with investors working in all industrial areas and complexes. This aims to help them overcome all the obstacles they may face, and to ensure collaboration to solve their problems.
Al-Zalat said that the IDA is committed to providing all necessary facilities to help investors in the new industrial complexes to obtain all necessary licences for their projects.
He added that units available in the new industry custers will be very distinctive, with each unit equipped with all utilities, including sanitation and water networks.
source: zawya
Out of the 998 projects financed by foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa last year, Egypt, South Africa, and Morocco were responsible for the greatest share, according to a recent report by fDi Intelligence.
Egypt replaced South Africa as the top ranked destination by projects in the region, experiencing a 60% increase from 85 to 136 projects in 2019, the report said.
Along with a $12bn IMF-mandated reform programme, the government has embarked on massive infrastructure spending in sectors ranging from energy to construction.
South Africa follows Egypt at 123 projects, though it easily outdoes all other African countries in terms of the number of projects it financed outside its own territory last year.
fDi Intelligence, a product of the Financial Times, found that South Africa invested in 81 projects outside the rainbow nation in 2019 compared to just 29 in Morocco, the second most out of any African country.
Morocco had 102 projects financed by FDI last year, making it the third largest on the continent. Other countries with large numbers of externally financed projects include Kenya (87), Nigeria (73), and Ghana (42).
In fact, Nigeria and Ghana each attracted more FDI by capital investment than South Africa, but the investments were spread among fewer projects. Egypt topped the list both in terms of the number of projects and amount invested.Ghana entered the top 10 destinations by the number of FDI projects in the Middle East and Africa.
It saw a 56% increase on 2018 figures, equivalent to 15 additional projects.Ghana also saw capital investment growth of 479%, an increase to $4.8bn.
This was driven by projects such as a $2.8bn production facility being developed by Sweden-based Greenland Resources as part of a public-private partnership with the government of Ghana.
Other large projects in Africa last year included the establishment of a $2bn phosphate fertiliser plant in Togo by the Dangote Group.
The Egyptian government also established a $848m phosphoric acid plant in the New Valley Governorate as part of a joint venture with several Chinese companies and the Egypt-based Phosphate Misr.
source: africanbusinessmagazine
Egypt continues to be Africa’s largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in 2019, marking a 10.7% hike, despite the slump in FDI inflows to the entire continent to USD 45 bn (EGP 727.2 bn), Invest-Gate reports.
“FDI inflows to North Africa decreased by 11% to USD 14 bn (EGP 226.2 bn), with reduced inflows in all countries except Egypt,” read the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) “Global Investment Trends Monitor 2019” report, noting that Egypt posted USD 9 bn (EGP 145.4 bn) in FDIs last year.
UNCTAD highlighted that economic reforms undertaken by the Egyptian government have improved macroeconomic stability and boosted investor confidence in the country. Although FDIs were still driven by the oil and gas industry, investment in the non-oil economy was also taking place.
According to the report, communications, consumer goods, and real estate sectors have seen significant investments in 2019.
“Egypt ranked first in Africa in re-investing the profits of foreign companies by 41%, where the reinvested profits for multinational companies represent a remarkable share of foreign direct investment inflows to the economies of the countries of the continent,” it confirmed, pointing out that lowering profit expectations will have a tangible impact on investment flows to Africa in 2020.
UNCTAD revealed that global FDI flows are forecast to drop by as much as 40% in 2020, from USD 1.54 trn (EGP 24.9 trn) in 2019, bringing FDIs below USD 1 trn (EGP 16.2 trn) for the first time since 2005.
In addition, FDIs are set to decline by a further to 10% in 2021; and to initiate a recovery in 2022, the report concluded.
source: invest-gate
Contributions would be considered as logistical support for Takaful insurance activity.
The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) has given authorisation for commercial insurance companies to make capital contributions to Takaful-branded insurance entities.
The contributions would be considered as logistical support for Takaful insurance activity.In Resolution No 53 of 2020, the FRA confirmed that Takaful insurance presents a different set of activities from the traditional commercial insurance.
Therefore, this case is not subject to Article 40 of the Insurance Supervision and Control Law No 10 of 1981, stating that “the insurance company may not contribute to the capital of another insurance company that is engaged in its activity in Egypt”.The FRA added that, since Takaful insurance is considered different in nature and practice from traditional commercial insurance, commercial insurance companies may contribute to the capital of Takaful insurance companies.
The FRA’s support to Takaful insurance activity has encouraged global entities to enter the Egyptian insurance market.Kenya Reinsurance Corporation (Kenya Re) has announced in March its intention to establish a Takaful reinsurance company in Egypt.
The FRA decision also prevents the legal confusion over the ownership structure of Misr Takaful Insurance – Hayat.Misr Holding Insurance and its subsidiaries, Misr Insurance and Misr Life Insurance, in partnership with the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, and Misr Financial Investment Company, signed an agreement to establish Misr Takaful Insurance – Hayat. The agreement comes with a capital of EGP 150m.
According to the FRA data, Takaful insurance companies succeeded in increasing their share of the premiums collected over the course of 2019 to 15.1%, at a value of EGP 535.6m, compared to EGP 398.7m (9.1%) in 2018.
source: dailynewssegypt
From medical consultations to free services, local startups become more agile in light of crisis
More startups and entrepreneurship stakeholders have started to adapt and enhance their services in light of the COVID-19 - known as the “coronavirus” - spread, in an aim to help customers and partners get through this phase safely and healthy.
Highlights from the ecosystem:
Angel investment network The Cairo Angels is supporting the #احنا_في_ضهرك (“We’ve got your back”) initiative with EGP 100,000, which aims at helping elderly or vulnerable people living alone complete their shopping and errands.
The network is seeking to establish a secure and updated database for volunteers, whose identity can be verified through social media accounts and ID cards, with the inclusion of reviews.
Hence, existing startups and/or startup founders are needed to develop the product and launch it within one week. Applications are accepted until March 25th, 2020.
Home improvement website Taskty built teams to offer sanitization services for companies and factories alike at cheap prices, following the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Egyptian Ministry of Health. Additionally, Taskty is conducting phone training with the cleaners, technicians and workers that are registered on their website on how to best keep themselves and their customers safe.
Medical consultation platform estshara launched the Salamet Masr initiative to help fight COVID-19, by providing free medical consultations on the coronavirus through its application by consulting a doctor via a voice call or text chat.
Moreover, the app spreads awareness and educates the community about the symptoms and methods of preventing the disease.
Users can access the free consultations by entering the Promocode “freedoc” in the estshara application, available until March 31, 2020. estshara is a platform that provides online healthcare consultations, aiming to make healthcare services accessible to everyone in the MENA region.
Arabic chatbot company WideBot is offering three months of bot building for free on their platform, so that businesses can completely shift their communication with other brands, employees and customers online. Using the Promocode “BeSafe” allows interested businesses and startups to set up their chatbots, and thus, reduce face-to-face interactions. Widebot is the first Arabic-focused bot-builder platform, which does not require coding and uses AI to maximize conversions and increase loyalty.
Egyptian healthcare startup TakeStep now offers startups and their families free psychiatric sessions in order to help them cope with the psychological impact of the COVID-19 spread worldwide. Psychologists are coining the term “corona phobia” to describe how people are affected by the panic and fear that comes along with the virus-spread. This could include anxiety, depression, as well as severe fear of germs. Additionally, TakeStep partnered with Al-Tibbi to launch a free symptom-checker for the coronavirus, in which website visitors can enter the symptoms they feel, and be diagnosed either positive or negative for COVID-19.
Creative agency Brainy Squad launched free online consultation sessions to support businesses facing economic consequences of the spread of COVID-19.
These sessions provide expertise to help businesses adopt the best digital transformation tactics to ensure continuity and growth under the current conditions. Brainy Squad is a creative one-stop-shop for businesses’ digital and creative needs.
Online native grocery application Breadfast added more commodities to its offering at their customers’ convenience, in support of the ''stay at home'' safety measures.
These products include fruits, vegetables, groceries, hand sanitizers and face masks. Additionally, the company applied special safety standards at all stages of production, packaging, and delivery, while customers can leave a note to have their order left at the door.
Breadfast also waived all delivery fees until the end of the month in support of customers’ circumstances during the current times.
Breadfast is an online grocery application that produces fresh bakeries using products like eggs and flour also produced by Breadfast, in addition to providing other groceries delivered daily to their customers’ doorstep.
source: zawya
Elmenus, the Egyptian startup that is fast-becoming a leader in the food discovery, ordering, and delivery sector, has secured USD 8 Mn in funding in a Series B round co-led by UAE-based VC fund, Global Ventures, and Egypt’s Algebra Ventures.
Founded in 2011 by CEO Amir Allam, and having previously raised USD 1.5 Mn in Series A funding from Algebra Ventures in 2017, Elmenus has achieved rapid success.
Since its founding, the startup has launched online ordering operations and, more recently, its own fleet service while also scaling from 20 to 200 employees, attracting top-tier talent, experiencing double-digit growth monthly, and eliminating that “What to eat today” concern for many people.
“We are incredibly excited to announce Global Ventures’ investment in a leading food-tech startup such as Elmenus, and look forward to working closely with the team in terms of driving further value creation opportunities that result in continued growth,” states Basil Moftah, General Partner at Global Ventures.
With its foundation of loyal users built via a comprehensive platform targeted to enable users to discover and order food online (app and website), elmenus has grown rapidly within the Egyptian market.
The startup claims to have onboarded over 8,000 restaurants and while serving approximately 1.2 million monthly active users in a short period. And this would have had a bearing on the Series B raise.
“With their first raise of USD 1.5 Mn, Elmenus proved our original investment thesis that a strong local player with a broader offering can have disproportionate achievement. The company has unique efficiencies and this round could be enough to secure its leadership in the rapidly growing digital market in Egypt.”, says Ziad Mokhtar, Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures.
The latest funding round also drew participation from Tarek Sakr and Hamad Al Homaizi, who are both prominent entrepreneurs most notable for having partially exited 4Sale, the leading Kuwait-based classifieds platform to NBK Capital last year.
The duo would be hoping to profit off of what is fast-becoming the leading food-tech startup in Egypt with a focus on personalizing food recommendations to users at the dish-level through digitized restaurant menus, reviews, and photos via its online food discovery and ordering platform.
“We believe our success as a startup is a combination of innovatively solving the right user problems, great team, and laser-focused execution. We have been able to grow the market in Egypt and accomplish great milestones very efficiently, we are excited about what we will do with this additional funding and the support of Global Ventures coming on board as we continue to scale across Egypt and help millions of more users to discover and order the food they will love,” states Amir Allam, Founder of Elmenus.
Egypt’s food discovery/ordering/delivery scene appears to be one of the most active on the African continent with a number of vibrant players including Uber Eats, Carriage, and Otlob.
With the latest investment, Elmenus seems to be strengthening its grip on a market that recently lost one of its bigger players in Glovo.
source: weetracker
The Egyptian government is working to move its entities to the new capital, and wants to provide adequate transportation services to the public sector employees
The Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Hala El Said, has discussed with the General Manager of Uber Egypt, Ahmed Khalil, expanding the services of the ride-hailing application to the New Administrative Capital.
The Egyptian government is working to move its entities to the new capital, and wants to provide adequate transportation services to the public sector employees, the minister further noted.
El Said vowed to provide a suitable environment for Uber’s expansion plan, referring to the success of the Uber Bus services that launched for the first time in the world from Cairo.
The minister further stressed the need for creating a feature for frequent passengers to cater to the needs of students and employees.
Uber launched in Egypt in 2014, according to Khalil, who noted that the company now has more than 130,000 drivers.
The company is planning an Uber for Government service for public sector employees in the new capital, he further indicated, with studies to introduce the Uber Intercity programme across all governorates.
soruce: zawya
Egypt, with a GDP growth of around 6%, continues to lead growth in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region in 2020, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF) expectations for 2020.
As the new year is approaching, the IIF’s economic experts revealed their 2020 outlook for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEEMEA) regions.
Regarding the MENA region, Garbis Iradian, chief economist for MENA, stated that given the projected lower oil prices of an average of $60/pb in 2020, the region’s authorities will need to strike the right balance between resuming fiscal consolidation and sustaining the current modest non-oil growth.
Fortunately, he mentioned, the monetary policy in the region is easing as the Fed is expected to reduce further US interest rates, which would support private credit and non-oil growth.
He noted that Egypt continues to lead growth in the MENA region, while in other oil importers, progress from recent reforms and de-escalation of conflicts in the region may support a gradual recovery. However, the pace of growth will still be insufficient to significantly reduce the high unemployment rates.
“The MENA medium-term outlook hinges on sustained reform implementation and de-escalation of tensions in the region to create an enabling environment for higher private investment and growth,” he stated.
He assured that some progress has been made, but the region needs to pursue deeper reforms to strengthen the business climate, improve competitiveness, and foster diversification and job creation.
Moreover, Ugras Ulku, head of CEEMEA Research, stated that for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the key theme for 2020 will be a growth slowdown.
He added that weakness in the German manufacturing sector, if sustained, will feed through supply chain links into weaker industrial activity in the CEE region (and has already started to do so).
“Additionally, uncertainty related to trade tensions between the US and the EU, especially with regard to the automotive sector, and to Brexit will continue to weigh on business sentiment in CEE. However, growth in the region will remain robust and allow for further convergence,” Ulku continued.
Regarding South Africa, he expected that the key theme for 2020 will be public debt sustainability.
He explained that the government has to present a credible plan in the February 2020 budget to reduce the fiscal deficit in order to stabilize debt, which is the key determinant of whether or not Moody’s downgrades South Africa to sub-investment grade, triggering increased volatility in the prices of South African assets.
“It remains to be seen if political will emerges and if the government is able to convince large public sector labour unions to agree to reduce the public sector wage bill, given that this is the key determinant as of potential debt stabilisation,” he further explained.
“For Turkey, the key theme for 2020 will be the authorities’ ability to use the credit channel to boost growth without intensifying Turkey’s macro vulnerabilities. Further credit impulse could lead to a sharp reversal of current account surplus in 2019 to a sizable deficit in 2020 and intensify demand pressures on inflation dynamics,” head of CEEMEA Research, forecasted.
source: dailynewssegypt
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