Egypt: ICT as a driver for growth
- Egypt offers strong potential to integrate ICT talent into Dutch companies, with abundant talent and a rapidly growing, internationally oriented tech sector
- Key barriers include Dutch unfamiliarity with these markets, the need to build effective intercultural communication practices remotely, and a potential mismatch between Dutch senior-level demand and Egypt’s largely junior and mid-level talent pool
- To untap the potential of nearshoring initiatives, the Netherlands should build trust structures, enable structured matchmaking B2B, and support targeted training programmes
This publication is part of the series 'ICT nearshoring in bilateral migration partnerships'.
Focusing on Egypt, the following section demonstrates how nearshoring can work in practice, and outlines what is needed to foster a more enabling nearshoring environment in the Netherlands. The analysis draws on two separate research missions during which the Clingendael team interviewed various stakeholders across the public and private sectors of both Egypt and the Netherlands.
The first part of the research examined the Egyptian context, highlighting both the opportunities and barriers. The second part shifts to practical implementation and the measures needed to scale up and operationalise nearshoring. In this context, two complementary strategies emerge. The first taps into the pool of talent already present in Egypt with the help of local intermediaries. The second aims to expand the pool of ICT professionals that Dutch firms can tap into by investing in recent Egyptian graduates. This is to be done through targeted training and upskilling, geared at enhancing their employability in both Dutch and international markets.
More publications in this series
Stay tuned for the case study Tunisia.
