Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella visits Egypt

Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation met with the Egyptian President to discuss how digital technology can empower every Egyptian citizen, business and government organization. They discussed how cloud-based technologies, productivity and collaboration tools and new devices can have impact in the fields of business, government projects, SMEs and startups, as well as the importance of sustainable corporate social responsibility in the country.

Since its establishment in Egypt 20 years ago, Microsoft has been committed to internal investment, as well as accelerating the development of the local IT industry eco-system. Through its ongoing partnership with the Egyptian Government, Microsoft has implemented a number of successful projects in the areas of health, e-government and education.

Nadella managed to meet as well with several senior government officials, including H.E. Eng. Sherif Ismail, Prime Minister of Egypt, to discuss a number of ongoing initiatives. He also had the opportunity to meet with several leading CEOs and hosted a talk in collaboration with the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, as well as hosting a roundtable discussion with several partners, startups and banking Sector.

During his visit, Satya Nadella, visited Cairo among many high profile meetings and events he also inaugurated the Microsoft Developers Conference addressing over 1200 local developers and entrepreneurs in the Middle East, where he shared Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more
Microsoft Developers Conference (MDC) is a one-day technical conference, designed especially with the needs of local software developers in mind. The conference provides a unique opportunity for the audience to get exposed to the latest Microsoft technologies and cross-platform development, immerse in deep technical topics and engage directly withtechnical subject matter experts from Microsoft.

Nadella delivered a keynote address outlining Microsoft's vision and bold ambitions in a mobile first, cloud first world, and shed light on some of Microsoft’s latest technologies, like Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Windows 10 and Holol\Lens.
He also highlighted some of the great examples of innovation coming from Egypt and how the country is well positioned to be an innovation hub within the region, and to export ideas and talent to the rest of the world.

During MDC, Nadella had the opportunity to meet with a number of young Egyptian developers, among which was Shady Sayed, CEO of Tagipedia. Shady co-founded Tagipedia to utilize mobile technologies to bridge the gap between the physical world and the online one. The vision of Tagipedia was brought to life in the city of Luxor in cooperation with Microsoft in a project that allows tourists to use their mobile phones to discover information about the various monuments and landmarks in the city.

Nadella also met with Mohamed Nar, the co-founder and CTO of Begether, a social media startup, that develops products that uses the ‘power of online’ to enhance people’s social life, instead of trying to move people’s social lives online with Chaino as their biggest product. that is the first social networking platform developed in the Arabic region with this depth and set of features. Meeting also with both Walid Khairy & Ahmed Najeeb, the co-founders of 2024 Studios, the successful Egyptian Indie Game Studio aiming to be part of leading gaming industry, and the game development community in Egypt.

Nadella was able to see firsthand how technology can empower youth and create new career opportunities, when he visited the Aspire Woman Social Innovation Hub. The hub is the first innovation and entrepreneurship center for women to be established in Egypt, in partnership with the Woman Business Development Center of the National Council of Woman and the United Nations Development Program. While there, he also met with beneficiaries of the Masr Ta3mal initiative, which aims to empower and employ youth through skill building and employability services within youth and community centers across Egypt. Since its inception in April 2012, the initiative has reached over 1.5 Million youths and has now expanded to 27 provinces in Egypt.
Khaled Abdel Kader, Microsoft Egypt’s General Manager, expressed his pleasure with the visit, stressing that it comes as a confirmation of the enormous potential of the Egyptian market, and Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to the country.