Leaders Call for Egypt to Move from Using AI to Producing It

At a leadership panel on 7 November, heads of NTRA, Dell, Benya, Orange, Oracle, Microsoft, Cisco and others agreed that Egypt's next goal is to produce AI, not only to consume it.

Turning Egypt from a consumer of technology into a producer of it was the shared goal of a leadership panel on the future of AI and technology held on Saturday 7 November, the opening day of Cairo ICT 2026, on the joint Cairo ICT and AIDC² stage in Hall 3. Speakers covered regulation, digital sovereignty, investment and the shift from experiments to real applications.

The panel was moderated by Mr. Ossama Kamal, Chairman of Tradefairs International, the show's organiser, who said the coordination between sector leaders on the platform reflected the direction the region is taking on AI.

Mr. Mohamed Shamroukh, CEO of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA), said the relationship between telecoms and IT now has to be seen through the lens of AI. He set out four areas for organising AI work in Egypt: preparing infrastructure for AI applications; cybersecurity and a framework to regulate AI; governance of AI applications, services and system development; and a review of the legislation that governs AI-based business models.

Mr. Mohammed Amin, SVP CEEMETA at Dell Technologies, said AI has become the main factor separating one country from another and will create new jobs, though adoption is lagging. He expects every organisation to have AI systems of its own. Mr. Ahmed Mekky, Chairman of Benya, said the moment is reshaping the global economy and gives Egypt a chance to be a main player rather than a consumer, with the state preparing the climate and the private sector seizing the opportunities.

Mr. Hesham Mahran, CEO of Orange Egypt, said operators now offer IT and financial services that grow faster than telecoms, and must work with software and technology companies to bring AI to every field. Mr. Ahmed Yehia, CEO Fintech and Digital at Etisalat Egypt, said the volume of data operators hold makes AI central to their business, and that AI has become a responsibility of states, which must provide the infrastructure it depends on, from roads to electricity.

Mr. Ahmed Adly, VP AI and Cloud Engineering MEA at Oracle, saw a wide gap between regulatory frameworks and actual AI production. He urged Egypt to set its priorities, build competitive models, draw on its growing pool of graduates and keep cybersecurity at the centre. Ms. Mirna Arif, Member of Parliament and GM MEA Growth Markets at Microsoft, said the past two years were a period of experiments and the time has now come for real application, as the show's theme, "AI in Action", suggests.

Mr. Mohamed Kamel, Country Manager of Cisco Egypt, said interest in AI now spans the whole government, not only the communications ministry, and that Egypt already contributes talent, design and research to AI worldwide. Mr. Ahmad Elharany, CEO of Pulse by Solutions, said official talk of power supply, digital sovereignty and new legislation shows the commitment is real and opens the way to investment.

Mr. Mogib Abdelrazek, Regional Director, Egypt, Levant and Turkey at Nutanix, named stability, climate and technology leadership as the keys to a place for Egypt on the global AI map, and noted that ministries and organisations are building AI models of their own to secure digital sovereignty. Mr. Ali Hassib, Country Manager, Egypt and Libya at Everpure, called digital transformation the foundation of AI, with data as its fuel and cybersecurity a priority.

Photo: ICT Business.