The Egyptian government's Information and Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) has announced it has helped Egyptian ICT companies conclude deals worth US$7 million with telcos, financial institutions and ICT enterprises from across Africa, under the "Africa Together" growth initiative.

ITWeb Africa reported last year ITIDA launched the Africa Together initiative in partnership with the International Data Corporation (IDC), aimed at supporting growth in Egypt's ICT sector and transforming it into a key contributor to Egypt's economy.

"We believe that the next large opportunity lies within emerging Africa," Margaret Adam of the IDC's Middle East, Turkey and Africa unit told ITWeb Africa at the time.

"Egypt's proximity to many of these markets, time zone affinity and often very cost effective solutions and skills, make for close alignment to the needs of these markets," Adam said.

ITIDA today gave an update of the progress of the Africa Together programme, under which ITIDA has helped Egyptian companies conclude deals with 17 African telcos, financial institutions and ICT enterprises based in six countries on the continent.

ITIDA said the Egyptian companies are already benefitting from the deals, which totalled approximately US$7 million.

"The agency leaves no stone unturned in exploring the ICT African markets in terms of prospects and challenges" ITIDA's chief executive officer Engineer Hussein El-Gueretly said.

"In pursuit of growth, Egyptian companies made unremitting efforts in studying these opportunities and bringing about real business benefits."

As part of the Africa Together programme, in order to support Egyptian ICT enterprises seeking to broaden their market exposure, ITIDA in cooperation with IDC implemented a research led go-to-market initiative to build up knowledge of African markets and how to approach them effectively.

ITIDA and IDC as a result were able to provide Egyptian companies with market analysis of nine African markets, and request analysis of over 160 African enterprises.

The partners also arranged a "matchmaking" trip to Kenya where Egyptian companies conducted more than 800 one-to-one business meetings with over 130 African enterprises and customers.

Examples of the deals concluded under the programme include Cairo-based Raya Corporation's business agreements signed with IE Networks; Tahses ICT and Consultancy from Ethiopia; and the Nigerian Mayakorp; in the field of systems integration.

Egyptian software company IT Blocks agreed with Afcor from Ethiopia and Dhanush Infotech from Kenya on IBM software deployment; while ERP provider Zas Soft signed deals with the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency and Dhanush Infotech from Kenya; to list but a few of the partnerships inked under the programme.