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10/7/13 Technology Companies Seek Out Arab Students | Al-Fanar Media

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Technology Companies Seek Out Arab StudentsDaria Solovieva / 16 Aug 2013

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Google annual conference streams at American University in Cairo. (Photo: GDG Cairo)

CAIRO Aisha Mustafa, a 19-year-old student at Egypts Sohag University, has recently developed a new

propulsion system based on quantum theory that could power space probes and satellites. Although

grateful to her university for helping her to patent the idea, Mustafa laments its limited resources.

Only departments of astronomy and physics were available, said Mustafa in a morning TV show called

Sabah El Kheir Ya Masr (Good Morning Egypt). Although t hey are related to space sciences,

unfortunately, they cant practically test or implement it.

Although Arab university investment in science is generally weak, over the last few years, global

technology giants like Google and Intel as well as a growing number of local companies have

stepped in to encourage innovation.

While some of these companies invested in education before the Arab uprisings, more companies seem

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to see a growing market ahead. In the last two years, technology companies have been doling out more

scholarships, sponsoring more competitions and otherwise showing interest in outreach to students

and universities.

Definitely, there are more educational initiatives now, says Wael Massoud, a partner at

PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the consulting firm. Education is one of the market channels.

Says Christopher Schroeder, a technology investor and author ofStartupRising: The Entrepreneurial

Revolution Remaking the Middle East. Every tech company Ive met with talks now not only about

market share, but how to support and integrate with local communities from education to ecosystem

building. It is a combination of great local initiatives growing and expanding, increasing recognition of

local companies to embrace CSR [corporate social responsibility] initiatives and global players doing the

same.

But there is more at stake than good public relations for the technology companies, who are seeking

their share of the fast-growing Arab internet and mobile-technology markets.

Increasingly, universities are an important venue for the companies to engage a key demographic of

students and professors, who are frequent users of technology, as well as recruit employees from t he

university ranks.

Investing in education is about winning the hearts and minds of a

new generation, says Massoud, of PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The

competitors who are not doing such activities, they dont have a

chance.

Some observers criticize technology-company educational programs

as being too narrow and too focused on subtle and not-so-subtle

marketing. The number of initiatives is increasing, but they [the

technology companies] are interested in the major track, which is

entrepreneurship, says Fady Ramzy, a founder of Interact Egypt v ideo production company and IT

consultant. They are not concerned with higher education as a whole.

Analysts say Google has been at the forefront in t he programs, recognizing an opportunity to support

Egypts educational needs as well as supporting its own brand recognition and market position.

Before the 2011 uprising that toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, Google moved to increase its

presence on university campuses with the Google Student Ambassadors program, which started in

Egypt and several other Arab countries that year. In addition to getting training and the prestige of

affiliation with a global technology giant, the Google Student Ambassadors play a low-key sales function

promoting product use and new product launches and also helping Google bett er understand each

universitys culture.

The aim behind the Google Student Ambassador program and the training for the ambassadors is to

find out what students and universities need, says Maha Abouelenien, head of communications for

Google in Middle East and North Africa. This feedback from the ambassadors is crucial as it helps shape

the way our products are tailored to further help and serve students and promote education via the

power of the web.

In 2012, Google selected 234 ambassadors from 70 universities across the region.

Even before Google expanded its educational outreach in t he region, Microsoft and Cisco have been

investing in education in the region. Cisco Entrepreneur Institute launched in 2009, training graduates

and offering workshops on starting a business, job searching and computer literacy.

In partnership with AMIDEAST, an education-focused non-profit organization, Cisco started training

centers in Morocco, Lebanon, Oman, Tunisia, and West Bank and Gaza, offering a mix of technology

training and job search skills.

Microsoft, one of the early movers in supporting education in the region, has focused on access to

technology in addition to training teachers and students. Through its Academic Support Center,

Microsoft offers teaching materials and technical support to IT faculty in the Middle East and North

Africa region.

Many of the programs are aimed at supporting female entrepreneurs.

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Women are more active in the t echnology sector in Egypt compared to the U.S. or Western Europe,

says Khaled Ismail, a chairman of Endeavor Egypt, which seeks out and supports high-impact

entrepreneurs. You find many employees at technology companies are female and women make up

around 30-40% female founders of tech start-ups.

As a part of the Empowering Women Challenge, Dell launched a new competition open to all university

students to arrive at innovative business solutions that empower women. While the aspiration of

women and men may be equal, the barriers to opportunities they face are not, says Trisa Thompson,

vice president of corporate responsibility at Dell. Were excited to see how the worlds university

communities will propose tackling the challenges facing women today.

While Dell takes a completely global approach, Intel has a regional gateway Intel Business Challenge

Middle Eastand North Africa to a global contest that it holds in which students strive to create

technological applications in areas such as health care, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.

Such programs help the global sponsors who are looking for an educated workforce familiar with

regional and global requirements in a region where education itself is acknowledged to be struggling.

I dont think anyone has had doubts about gaps not only in university education but in the high school

quality which, of course, affects universities terribly, Schroeder says. Implementation cant merely

come at the university level which is why so many start-ups are looking at early education and

supplemental skills, such as math and programming.

Yet the companies support of educational programs are inextricably linked to their broader strategies of

expansion. Over the past decade, Egypt in particular has become a new frontier for technologydevelopment and product launch throughout the region. Egypt is a populous country with relatively

low cost of living, says Ismail, of Endeavor Egypt. Acquiring access to a big pool of human talent at low

cost is something [multinational companies] always look for.

As the cost of doing business in China and India has risen significantly, the allure of the Middle East for

technology developers has increased as well. MENA is a fast-growing market, Ismail notes. As a late

comer in technology, the growth rates are much higher than in mature markets.

But it is yet to be seen if technology-company investment will spread more broadly in higher education.

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Technology Companies Seek Out Arab Students _ Al-Fanar Media