The Imminent Challenge of Click and Mortar Commerce in Egypt, Africa, and the Middle East

Egypt has led the region (Africa and the Middle East, excluding Israel) in the availability of Internet services on a wide scale. Nevertheless, Egypt is encountering very particular issues and problems – common to developing countries – with regard to electronic commerce. This paper, as it identifies deterrents to electronic commerce in Egypt, hopes to offer a to-do-list for anyone who is championed to overcome this predicament. Nonetheless, the resolution of these deterrents through (1) Promotion, Education and Awareness, (2) Human Resource and Skills Development, (3) Liberalization of Telecommunications Infrastructure, (4) National and Legal Endorsement, (5) Regional Strategy, (6) Financial Services Enabling, (7) Content Development, (8) International Negotiations and Agreements, (9) Monetary Issues and (10) Pragmatic Projects will be (as was the Internet at large) bottom-up driven.