- Egyptian Developers achieve an astonishing 80% graduation rate at the Udacity Program compared to 10% globally
- Mobile Application Launchpad Program inaugurate next batch of 250 students
The Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and Google held a special ceremony today to graduate the first cohort of certified Egyptian developers from the Mobile Application Launchpad (MAL) Program. Launched earlier in January of this year, the MAL Program aims to grow tech startups and high-value job opportunities in the country. It also encourages creativity and entrepreneurship among Egyptian youth by equipping them with the necessary knowledge they need.
The MAL Program is being led by the MCIT and Google along with other international and local educational stakeholders over the period of two years to offer scholarships to 2000 young Egyptians to complete a comprehensive 3-month course in Android app development. In addition, the MAL program holds competitions with cash prizes worth over USD 200k to encourage tech enthusiasts to develop their own apps, market them and start their own businesses. At a later stage, successful participants will have the chance to meet potential employers for job opportunities.
“With 75 million smartphone users in the MENA region, and roughly 30 million users in Egypt, there is definitely a strong appetite for technology adoption and huge potential for the ICT sector to be an engine for economic growth. Moreover, the number of mobile users is expected to reach 220 million by 2018 and usage of apps on mobile is also growing fast.
This presents business opportunities for app developers allowing Egypt to become the Region’s hub for the mobile app industry” said Eng. Yasser El Kady Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology. El Kady encouraged graduates to continue their capacity building efforts and developing further their entrepreneurship spirit ensuring the Ministry’s continued support for home-grown innovation in the app industry.
In Egypt, mobile usage has seen positive growth with people using their smartphones for a wide range of activities such as browsing, gaming, communication, etc. with a large part of their time spent on apps (84% globally). Studies show that 60% of smartphone users in Egypt are online daily with their devices and half of these users play online games.
“We are very excited and proud to witness the graduation of these bright Egyptian developers,” said Mohamad Mourad, Regional Director for Google in the Middle East and North Africa region. “We truly believe that these graduates will play a great role in developing their industry and economy at large.
With 8,000+ IT university graduates every year, Egypt has the potential to become a regional hub for developers and entrepreneurs working in the mobile space. We have designed and began the implementation of program that will build on the capabilities of this young and promising talent pool and equip them for success in the market place. We may have provided the platform, resources, mentorship and training for them, but they alone achieved this accomplishment and we are honored to be in their presence today celebrating their much deserved success.”
During the graduation ceremony, the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Google also inaugurated the next batch of 250 students to enter the program, which is being conducted in cooperation with Udacity, a premier provider of online courses (Massive Online Open Courses -MOOCs) aimed at unlimited participation and open access through the web. The Udacity platform was localized along with select courses on mobile app development.
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