By Mohamed Fawzy
The Managing Director of IT WORX , and former President of the Software Export Council, Wael Amin, said his company’s business in the second quarter of 2012 has reached $7 million, a 20% growth from the same period last year.
He confirmed that his company’s business declined after the first quarter of the current year, during which the company’s revenues equaled $7.5 million but noted that the company’s branches in Arab markets, including Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, contributed to increasing the volume of IT exports, particularly in light of the obstacles currently facing the domestic IT market.
Amin expected that total software exports would remain stable between the first and second quarters of the current year. Software exports were approximately $270 million in the second quarter of 2012, with first quarter exports not exceeding the same amount.
He considered instability in the global economy a reason behind the lack of growth in the volume of technology exports.
“The last quarter of the last year saw a slight recovery with the volume of exports reaching approximately $290 million, whereas Egypt’s Software and IT exports reached $1 billion by the end of last year,” said Amin. He noted that economic problems in European markets negatively affected Egypt’s technological exports.
Exports to the Middle East increased by 15%, reaching approximately $460 million in 2011, compared to $400m in 2010. The Persian Gulf market is among the most attractive for software exports in the current quarter.
Amin expected Islamic software purchases to increase during the month of Ramadan as a result of an increase in domestic demand and purchasing power following the decline witnessed by the market recently.
It is notable that it was decided to disband the Software Exports Council by beginning of the current year with its responsibilities divided among the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA). The Council’s work was first halted following the January 25th Revolution. The Council then called on the Ministry of Industry to make a decision to continue the Council or disband it. The Council resumed operations after the meeting with Dr. Samir Elsayad, former Minister of Industry, before halting work once again when Dr. Mahmoud Eisa took over the Ministry.
