Thursday, November 9, 2017

Egyptian technology startups stand on the shoulders of giants

4:07 AM    
As a young PhD student at MIT, Dr. Khaled

Ismail was motivated by the engineering challenge of designing the smallest devices possible. This drive led him to create Egypt’s first chip design firm, SySDSoft.
To the concern the parents of 16-year-old Waleed Khalil — the founder of several electronics firms — it was his interest in electricity and the products that use it that launched his journey to develop Olkya, the first electronic products company in Egypt.
A young Alaa Agamawi got his start working for his family business in 1979, which re-sold western computers into Egypt. There, his desire grew to develop Arabic software that could reach the masses in the Middle East and to build an Egyptian technology industry that global markets would notice.
With technology and curious minds, these founders not only built great products and companies, they created the foundation for a strong and resilient technology sector that has been an economic driver and job creator in a country looking for stable footing.