8 - 14 February 2001
Issue No.520
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 8 - 14 February 2001 Issue No.520 |
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Looking up to Indian IT
Manal Khalil, the 38-year-old information technology (IT) manager of a paint manufacturer in 10 Ramadan City, is determined to train 29 million Egyptians in IT, at various levels of proficiency. "I want to do what India did 10 years ago," she says. An overly optimistic ambition, she willingly admits -- before insisting that it is possible. To begin, Khalil sought the expertise of one of the leading Indian IT training schools, STG (Standard Technology Group). The school will send Indian IT experts to train a select group of Egyptians, who will, in turn, train those who will enrol in Khalil's future IT centres. Khalil intends to name these centres the Kali Group. "Kali is an Indian queen who destroys and creates," she explains, "and I want to create something out of all those people." It has been almost a year and a half since Egypt decided to take IT seriously and rely on it as a sector that could bring foreign currency, and perhaps investment, to the country. And just as "IT" became a buzzword in official discourse, so did "the Indian Model." Fascinated by what a Third World country achieved in only 10 years time, Egypt felt that it, too, had the potential to achieve IT success. Statements on Egypt's "rich human resources" and "geographical proximity" supported this notion. An Information and Communication Ministry was formed, attention to the IT sector was readily paid and everyone awaited the replication of the Indian model.
But the fascination amounted only to several Egyptian-Indian government understandings, the latest of which was signed earlier this week between Indian Minister of External Affairs Jaswant Singh and Egypt's Amr Moussa, in addition to a few IT training schools under the Indian umbrella. While critics hold the Egyptian government responsible for this, Egypt's officials argue that India's IT boom was achieved by the private sector, "away from the government."
To Nadia Hegazi, vice chairman of the Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC), which led the Egyptian side of the IT writing group in the Egypt-India joint commission talks during Singh's visit, "cooperation should be between the private sectors, away from government red-tape, though I believe the government's role could be to create the infrastructure."
Then why isn't the private sector looking towards India, which has so much to offer? Amit Gupta, managing director of NIIT, an Indian IT training centre with branches in 26 countries around the globe, believes that "there wasn't enough awareness" to start with. According to Gupta, the Egyptian private sector only started to discover the Indian experience two years ago, before which "they were looking westward."
Yet even Hegazi admits that Egypt's IT ambition remains hindered by obstacles, many of them created by the government itself. "IT growth needs equipment, which is expensive, and a reliable infrastructure," which, today, simply does not exist in Egypt. She cites the Indian example in this instance, as well. "The Indian government gave IT companies a 10-year-long tax holiday to allow these companies to grow and make revenues," she points out. In Egypt, however, all imported computer equipment remains heavily taxed. Despite pleas by the IT sector to the Cairo government for the past four years to lift or reduce taxes, there has been no response. The current economic recession added fuel to the fire, causing 60 to 70 computer companies to go bankrupt. Incentive thus remains confined to lip service -- and personal optimism.
As for Khalil, she complains of "complete lack of support," yet is determined to get her project going. "I'm planning to start with two prototype schools -- in Heliopolis and Shubra -- which will begin operations in April, then I plan to open 20 learning centres across Egypt."
As one observer put it, Indo-Egyptian IT cooperation is more like the clash of swords in a lacklustre battle: all noise and no winner. India wants to sell its know-how, while Egypt, which is in dire need of it, remains confused about how to benefit from it. Handcuffed with an economic crisis that is expected to last for years to come, many wonder if the government will pursue its plans for a strong IT sector and achieve the once-possible Indian dream.
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