Swiss-Driven Software Development in Egypt
Modeso’s journey of creating a Tech Hub in Egypt, how it started and what we achieved within the first year.
By the end of 2017, market demand for software development services will grow at least five times faster than internal IT organization’s capacity to deliver them, according to Gartner, Inc. This market forecast underpins the upcoming market opportunities and challenges at the same time.
The journey of Modeso started in 2015, as the founder team, consisting of Yehia Elazazy, Samuel Schmid, Alexander Maier and myself followed an enhanced market research and strategy to evaluate Egypt as a potential nearshore hub for software development.
Business Viability
Having the team complete to evaluate the idea/vision of building-up a technology provider with its own nearshore Tech Hub, we pursued with the following approach:
Market Demand in Switzerland
We analysed the market demand for software solutions, particularly in Switzerland. To do so, we created an online survey with 40 Swiss digital agencies and several corporates. In general, the survey showed:
- Shortage in technical resources
- Cost efficiency in project accomplishment
- Clients proximity in the field of tech-consulting and project management
Egypt’s Software Engineers
We started to evaluate software engineers regarding their technical skills. To do so, we created technology and rank-based (junior/senior) evaluation tasks and reviewed them in detail. Also, we reviewed the cultural & value match which was an equally important fact to be considered. We did so by conducting a questionnaire followed by interviews (42 in total). Furthermore, we investigated resource availability and price competitiveness in the software market. This undertaking got conducted through another questionnaire with well-known universities and local digital agencies.
Company launch
After a comprehensive evaluation process we decided to turn our idea into reality. We did not want to become another digital agency — we wanted to become a technology provider focussing on tech part of the project (tech consulting, implementation and quality assurance). Our target group are tech-driven startups, digital agencies and corporates which we served with one of our 2 service models (Project Model, Dedicated Teams)
Recruitment of Software Engineers
It was challenging to convince potential candidates to leave stable jobs and join a start-up company, and since we pursue only the best qualified developers to satisfy our standards it was even tougher. What we are looking for in hiring an engineer at Modeso are features like: profound technical knowledge, skills, willingness to learn, value match, excellent communication & problem-solving skills.
In this phase we highly benefited from our Egyptian partner Yehia Elazazy through his connections and reputation within Alexandria and Cairo. As soon as we employed our first team of engineers and started our first projects, Modeso gained increasingly in appeal as an employer.
Alexandria is the home of well-known Universities, such as Alexandria University, Arab Academy for science & technology (AAST), Pharos University and the Information Technology Institute (ITI). Through these institutions a great amount of software engineers are being educated every year.
What we learned from research conducted on employee behavior is that Egyptian employees are considered loyal. We are often struggling to contract them instantly, because they feel strongly committed to their former employer. But on the other hand it is honorable attitude which is in long-term definitely a great asset for the company and will pay off.
An effective recruiting process is essential, and requires a close eye. The recruitment process is pursued as followed:
1. Pre-selection process done by HR Egypt
- Initial CV checkup
2. Initial interview (onside) — Cultural/Value match & communication skills
- We review communication skills, cultural fit and alignment of values before we proceed with the candidates' technical capabilities.
3. Technical Assignment
- 8 to 16 hours evaluation task for junior and senior position. We test coding skills and problem-solving skills
4. Second interview (onside) — Discuss technical assignment
- We discuss the tech assignment with the candidate and stress-test their knowledge.
5. Hiring decision
- We continuously assess our employee’s performance through 360-degree reviews.
Project Generation
Nothing happens without a project. No sales, no revenue, no profit, no Tech Hub, no Modeso. In the beginning, we definitely benefited from our existing network and buzz marketing. After accomplishing a couple of projects (Turkish Airline Euroleague, Bühler, Kaufland etc.) we could start promoting our work on various mediums, which has been boosting our reputation dramatically.
Operation’s Insights
We established our company’s structure and operations to keep a very close eye to our customers, in the utterly interactive processes (conception, design, project management). Likewise, due to our Tech Hub in Egypt we can work considerable cost-efficient and with high ratio of scouting qualified resources.
Client Center Switzerland
- Agile teams in Zurich
- Aim to be close to the client where essential — tech consulting, project management
- Quality Assurance takes a prominent role in the operational part of the business. We know that quality (testing) and sustainability (code reviews) is crucial for our clients. Conducted experience prove that automated testing and constant code reviews reduce the overall project cost by roughly 30%
Tech Hub Egypt
- 15+ software engineers in our office in Alexandria
- Provides our Client HUB with software engineers for competitive prices
- Operations include: HR, Development, QA and DevOps
- Office extendable up to 70 employees
Knowledge Transfer & Education
We aim to engage in knowledge transfer between Switzerland and Egypt. This is a crucial fact which differentiates Modeso in the Egyptian software market. We encourage our employees to constantly educate themselves in order to keep up with new frameworks and technologies. In order to do so, we organize various approaches, such as:
Tech Talks
Tech Talks are held once every month. These meetings host a platform where employees can exchange information across technologies (web, android, iOS).
Hack Days
Once a month our developers have the opportunity to choose a topic related to IT. The idea behind the Hack Days is to give them a chance to get in touch with technologies, hardwares and approaches which they won’t otherwise, such as the Internet of things (IoT).
Blog Posts
Our developers independently working on blog post to publicly promote their gained knowledge.
We realized that making our employees feel secure with us on both levels personal and professional through the norms and culture we adapt within our premises and having a convenient work environment. All theses factors are decisive when an employee comes to a point to decide whether to leave or stay in a company.
Communication & Tools
It has been shown that collaborating with an effective structure and the right tools is crucial in our business mainly since we are partially working remotely.
- Slack: Communication
- Github / Bitbucket: Code versioning
- Jira: Project and task management
- Harvest Forecast: Resource and project planning
- Harvest Timesheet: Time tracking and invoicing
- Zeplin: Mobile App visual design handover
- Frontify: Web design specification and handover
- Sketch: Design- and prototyping
- Google Business App: Business collaboration
- Bexio: Accounting
Conclusion
In the beginning of 2015 we decided to create our own Tech Hub in Egypt. Currently, we are counting 15+ employees exclusively in Egypt. Ever since, we are constantly extending our Tech Hub in order to meet our target market demands.
After doing nearshoring in Egypt for roughly a year we have been experiencing some manifest advantages. Firstly, through the high resource availability, we have supremely short notice time to kick off a project. In addition, we have utterly competitive implementation prices. Also, we have seen a distinguished working mentality. Egyptians are hardworking, willing to learn and loyal.
Apart of all these benefits offered in the Egyptian market, it is crucial to have a reliable partner on-site for the daily operations and strategic business. Our partner Yehia Elazazy is a key person to allow a smooth flow of business in the Egyptian market. Without this asset It would have been a struggle.
Modeso — We Create Digital Solutions for Businesses & Startups
