The emergence of e‐commerce in a developing nation: Case of Egypt

The information and communication technology evolution is affecting many nations around the world and forcing changes to business and socio‐economic development plans, and reflecting major implications on the realization of the concept of globalization. Egypt, as a developing country with an economy in transition, started to invest in building its communication and information technology infrastructure since 1985 as a vital tool for development. This paper describes the emergence of e‐commerce in Egypt with a focus on the challenges faced that relate to a number of social, technological, financial and legal issues, and the road map formulated in collaboration between the government and the private sector to diffuse e‐commerce in Egypt.