As advisor to the minister of communications and information technology on business development, Ms. Zeinab Zaki is involved in the international “branding” of Egypt, promoting awareness through marketing, exhibitions, conferences, the Internet and other activities with the aim of positioning Egypt as a regional ICT hub. Her formidable leadership, communication and management skills have enabled her to build and maintain strong relationships with multinational companies in Egypt, such as Microsoft, Intel, Oracle and IBM, and to secure their increasing investment in the country. The direct result has been an increase in technology transfer to Egypt and the creation of new job opportunities.

Ms. Zaki develops and oversees the implementation of strategies and initiatives supporting export-oriented ICT niches and strengthening the presence and operations of ICT multinationals in Egypt. By formulating opportunities, initiatives and incentives to attract international investors to the country, she has succeeded in increasing ICT investment in the local market.

She was responsible, together with Microsoft Egypt, for the first visit of Microsoft CEO Mr. Bill Gates to Egypt and the Middle East, and has been involved in directing a further visit for him to review ICT development in Egypt and the company’s role in the country. Ms. Zaki also played a key role in bringing other eminent heads of industry to Egypt, such as Craig Barrett (Intel), John Chambers (Cisco) and Carl-Henric Svanberg (Ericsson).

Her leadership skills were instrumental in Egypt’s participation in the meetings of the World Economic Forum in Davos 2005, Dead Sea 2005 and Sharm Al Sheikh 2006. Ms. Zaki was also heavily involved in Egypt’s recent participation in the two phases of the World Summit on the Information Society, part of the country’s commitment to achieve its objectives towards the Millennium Declaration Goals. Her expertise is behind the successful promotion of Egypt as a regional ICT hub at numerous conferences and exhibitions, such as ITU World 2003, Africa Telecom 2004, and CeBIT 2004, 2005 and 2006. She has also initiated “matchmaking” visits abroad to promote cooperation and open business leads for Egyptian companies, particularly in the UK. Ms. Zaki’s profound input in the minister’s visits to the US, UK and France over the last four years has been invaluable.

Ms. Zaki began her professional life in 1990 as a dealer in the Foreign Exchange Department of Alexandria Kuwait International Bank. In 1993, she became assistant to the executive manager at the Egyptian Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), where, in 1996, she was promoted to manuscripts project manager, a position she held for two years. During her time with the IDSC, Ms. Zaki played a major role in the development of the Dar Al Kutub manuscripts library, was involved in the inauguration of Zeinab Khatoun house by Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, and prepared documentation for the Middle East and North Africa summits in 1994 and 1995. In the same period, she was also a project manager for UNESCO’s Memory of the World Program.

From October 1998 to February 2000, Ms Zaki worked as business development unit manager for Legislation and Development Information Systems (LADIS), before joining MCIT in 2000 as decision support unit manager. The following year, she took the position of business development manager for the ministry, where her professionalism, determination and in-depth knowledge of the ICT sector singled her out for promotion to her current position.

Ms. Zaki obtained an MBA in information technology and management from the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands in 1995 and a Bachelor’s degree in economics and political sciences from Cairo University in 1990.