skill-link.com @ Smart Village Ceremony

The Smart Village, the first information technology business park in Egypt and second to the Dubai Internet City in the Arab region, is situated on the Cairo Alexandria desert road (before the toll station). It is being developed over 300 landscaped feddans with 54 office plots capable of accommodating 20,000 to 30,000 employees.

The Smart Village facilities include conference, exhibition, press, business and shopping centers; a reception area, library, hotel and apartments; and various recreation facilities. Four types of office buildings are offered to companies that can choose to rent or buy a standard design, which ranges from 1,000-4,000 square meters. There's even a Think Tank Café, a pyramid-shaped coffee shop suspended in the center of a lake.

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology provided the land for the first Smart Village, and holds a 20 percent stake, according to the Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif. The other 80 percent of the capital, as announced by the company Chairman & CEO Dr. Aly El Hefnawy, comes from 50 shareholders, mostly from the IT sector, including Orascom Telecom, Nile on Line, Asia Brown Bovery Holding and Raya Holding. The company's capital amounts to LE 100 million.

During the event attended by skill-link.com Chairman Sherif Samy, a number of IT companies signed purchase or lease agreements to relocate to the Smart Village, among them: Raya Holding, LINKdotNET (a skill-link.com shareholder), Alcatel and others. The Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology is already constructing its administrative buildings there in addition to a large training center, expected to be completed by the end of this year (2002).

In his speech, Dr. Ahmed Nazif announced that the number of Egyptians working in the IT filed has grown from 10,000 three years ago to 20,000. The 30% growth is expected to continue in the foreseen future.