The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has issued a decree appointing Amr Mahfouz Assistant Minister for Growth and Development, for one year, as well as the Acting CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), succeeding Hala El Gohary, whose term came to an end. The decree is effective as of July 20. Talaat also thanked El Gohary for the efforts she exerted during her term.
A number of responsibilities have been assigned to Mahfouz, including proceeding the implementation of the strategy of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) for developing the Egyptian IT industry and keeping pace with the State’s efforts for achieving the digital transformation and building Digital Egypt. This is in addition to promoting Egypt in global markets as an IT industry hub; attracting more foreign investments; helping grow and increase efficiency and competitiveness of local companies to access global markets; and increasing the size of Egypt’s digital exports.
Moreover, Mahfouz is responsible for developing mechanisms for the growth and development of the outsourcing industry; creating an enabling environment for supporting the new generation of outsourcing services, in a way to keep up with the Fourth Industrial Revolution developments; supporting applied research and innovation in advanced technologies; and maintaining and improving Egypt’s position in innovation indicators.
This is in addition to developing mechanisms for fostering innovation and supporting startups; contributing to implementing MCIT strategy for capacity building in the ICT sector to create a base of Egyptian calibers, capable of meeting the needs of local and global markets; and fulfilling the existing initiatives, as well as launching new ones to promote innovation and create an enabling environment for supporting creativity.
Mahfouz possesses a vast experience, spanning 33 years, in IT, especially in business development, with applying accompanying technology to reach the desired goals through a number of pillars including digital transformation, administrative consultation, human resources development and capacity building. He also has experience in business development and growth in emerging markets.
Mahfouz specializes in entrepreneurship in consultation and services. He built and developed this sector in many countries all over the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, and led a team of partners and executives in the region to develop business and implement transformative projects, with managing all operational aspects of business to develop the presence of IBM company.
Throughout his career, Mahfouz occupied the position of the Global Business Services (GBS) Leader at IBM- Egypt, where he managed the implementation of large-scale projects in the government, telecommunication and banking sectors. He was also the Communications Sector Leader at IBM MEA, in Dubai, and the Managing Partner and GBS Leader at IBM Saudi Arabia.
Mahfouz holds a B.Sc. in Engineering from Cairo University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Maastricht School of Management in Netherlands.
