Economic Research Forum (ERF)

Sherif Kamel

Author

Sherif Kamel
Professor of Management and Dean of the School of Business, The American University in Cairo

Kamel is a professor of management and dean of the School of Business at the American University in Cairo. Before joining the university, he was the director of the Regional Information Technology Institute and managed the training department of the Cabinet of Egypt Information and Decision Support Center. He is a trustee and an international board member of the Association of MBAs and the Business Graduate Association. He is a member of the board of directors of AACSB International. He co-chairs the board of stewards of the African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative. He is a member of the Egypt-U.S. Business Council and a founding member of the Internet Society of Egypt. He served as the 18th president of the board of governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt. He was an independent board member of the Egyptian American Enterprise Fund and the Commercial International Bank. His research and teaching interests include digital transformation, IT transfer to emerging economies, decision support systems, and entrepreneurship. His work is broadly published in information systems and management journals and books. He is the editor of three books; E-Strategies for Technological Diffusion and Adoption: National ICT Approaches for Socioeconomic Development; Electronic Business in Developing Countries: Challenges and Opportunities; and Managing Globally with Information Technology. He serves on the editorial board of Case Focus: The Journal of Business and Management Teaching Cases in the Middle East and Africa and is the associate editor of the Journal of IT for Development and the Journal of Cases on Information Technology. He is the author of the NileView article series. He is an Eisenhower Fellow and holds a Ph.D. in information systems from the London School of Economics; an MBA; an M.A. in Islamic Art and Architecture; and a B.A. in business administration from the American University in Cairo.

Content by this Author

The year ahead: a view from the Nile

In 2023, what lies ahead for Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa, and the wider world? This column, first published by The NileView, suggests that this year is likely to be a blend of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.

The way forward for Egypt

As Egypt prepares to host the 27th Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in November, there may be an opportunity to restart the post-pandemic economic recovery. This column, first published by The NileView, is firmly optimistic about the country’s potential and prospects, with the author opening: ‘I am not an economist, but here is some food for thought on the way forward for Egypt.’

Most read

Beyond job creation: how can Egypt’s gender gap in work be closed?

More than 2 million jobs are needed each year to absorb new entrants into Egypt’s labour market and raise the country’s employment rate. The job challenge is even more acute for women, whose labour force participation remains low despite recent gains in education. This column reports on the second Development Dialogue, an ERF–World Bank Group joint initiative, which brought together students, scholars, policy-makers and private sector leaders at the American University in Cairo to consider how the country’s gender gap in work can be closed.

Digitalisation, global value chains and regional integration in MENA & SSA

Participation in global value chains is vital for countries pursuing structural transformation and inclusive economic development. This column summarises new evidence on how much production processes have been globalised in Africa and the Middle East relative to other regions; whether this process has taken place with partners within or outside the region; and whether it has taken place more in manufacturing or services.

How trade policy can reduce MENA’s cereal import vulnerability

Heavy dependence on imported cereals, combined with climate change, water scarcity and geopolitical uncertainty, continues to threaten food resilience across MENA. This column explains how an inclusive trade policy can play a key role in making the region’s food security less vulnerable to shocks.

The political economy of algorithms in the Middle East

The Middle East is entering a new political-economic era – one in which algorithms, data and artificial intelligence may become as strategically important as oil once was. Across the region, governments are investing heavily in digital infrastructure, smart governance and AI-driven economic transformation. This column outlines how AI and algorithmic governance are reshaping power, inequality and state capacity in the region.

The risks of a two-speed AI economy in MENA

Much of the debate about artificial intelligence in the Middle East and North Africa focuses on how many jobs it will replace. As this column explains, the more important challenge is that the new technology is likely to create a two-speed labour market, where countries with the capacity to invest in digital infrastructure and skills move rapidly ahead while others struggle to keep pace. Unless governments combine credible national reforms with targeted regional cooperation, AI could widen, not reduce, the economic divides across MENA.

From mega-investment to mega-productivity: closing MENA’s conversion gap

Across the Middle East and North Africa, governments are investing heavily in infrastructure, technology, diversification and new industries. Yet capital accumulation alone does not guarantee productivity growth. As this column argues, the region’s deeper challenge is its ‘investment-to-productivity conversion gap’: ensuring that large-scale investment translates consistently into stronger firms, technological diffusion, skills and better jobs. A different metric of success is required: not how much capital is deployed, but how much productive capability that capital leaves behind.

Sanctions and conflict: why corruption changes the equation

Why do sanctions produce such different political outcomes across the countries that have been targeted? This column reports research examining the role of pre-existing corruption in shaping the relationship between sanctions and subsequent conflict or political instability. The evidence indicates that trade sanctions are associated with higher conflict-related deaths where pre-existing corruption is high.

Why energy efficiency still struggles to attract finance in Egypt

Egypt has reduced energy subsidies and gradually adjusted domestic energy prices toward cost-recovery levels, improving the economic case for energy efficiency investments – but financing has not kept pace. Drawing on structured interviews with banks, developers and public officials, this column traces why energy efficiency projects in the country still struggle to attract capital, and sets out how a ‘financing ladder’ used elsewhere – from revolving funds to risk guarantees to green bonds – could close the gap.

The weak bread chain: cereal supply risks in six MENA economies

The Middle East and North Africa is one of the most food-import-dependent regions of the world, particularly for staple cereals such as barley, maize and wheat, and particularly in six countries – Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. As this column reports, diversifying import sources has become an essential strategy for strengthening food security and improving resilience to geopolitical and climate-related disruptions.




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