EEnterpriseAM sat down with HP Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa Ertug Ayik (LinkedIn) to give us an inside look into the company’s plans for Egypt, the uses of on-device AI, and what they term the “future of work.” Edited excerpts from our conversation:

QUESTION 1 — HP announced it was doubling down on Egypt in 2025. What have you done so far, and why did you decide to make the move?

We’ve already been operating in Egypt for years now. We had HP employees covering Egypt — they just weren’t based here. What we have seen over the last three to five years is that Egypt has improved a lot in terms of stability and the economy — it has taken a lot of steps to create stability and predictability.

Many companies at this point in time are downsizing — they are closing offices, but HP decided to invest and build a footprint in Egypt with the opening of a physical office. As a company, we believe in the future of Egypt. We believe that there is a lot of potential, not only for HP, but for those we can serve as a technology provider.

QUESTION 2 — Digital transformation is a key national priority in Egypt. How is HP looking to support the private and public sectors in this push?

Our core strategy is to be the technology provider for the future of work. What we want to bring as a technology company is to be able to eliminate the digital gap between employees and the entities themselves, because there is a conflict today, and technology can solve that.

We are focusing not just on the pieces of technology themselves, but on the processes and working models connecting these devices — so when you go to work, you are empowered to do what you do best. To give an example, I have a daughter in high school — it’s her last year, so it’s pretty stressful. I was in a parent-teacher conference and saw the teachers there struggling so much as they were spending a large amount of time manually transferring exam grades from one place to another.

And I thought that this brilliant teacher didn’t want to spend so much of her time on these tasks when she decided to get into teaching. Her dream was probably, “I want to go to school, I want to teach kids, I want to inspire them, I want to get them ready for life…etc.” We believe that technology can automate all these mundane tasks for teachers, so they can spend more time on what really matters to them.

And once you get technology to handle those unnecessary tasks, the difference is clear. I used to spend hours preparing presentations, but now it’s easy.

If we, as a technology producer, help employees, they are going to be much more productive and happier — and that’s going to drive better outcomes for the company. This isn’t only for the private sector — it’s also for the public sector. If a government employee is happy at work, they are also going to serve citizens better. Ultimately, that improves the service levels the government provides to its citizens.

QUESTION 3 — Do you see HP’s focus on on-device AI as being particularly suited to certain industries in Egypt?

I think industries handling highly sensitive data — like healthcare, banking, ins., and some government institutions — are going to be much more interested in this. Many government entities don’t even want their data held outside the country — simply because it’s sensitive data and they want to keep it local.

Now, you don’t even need to have that data leave your premises, because you can still do so much with it directly on your device. There are pieces of on-device AI technology that could really help sectors requiring face-to-face interaction. If you are in hospitality, you can have a device that listens to customers’ questions and provides the answers. Whether you’re a nurse in a hospital or a salesperson in a retail store, AI can bring new capabilities to people in these front-line roles.

QUESTION 4 — To the people running large companies across the Middle East, what is the main technological challenge they should be thinking about and addressing in 2026?

I think a lot of companies don’t know where to start with the implementation of AI. They often think, “Okay, I need to make a huge breakthrough, and I need to make a big investment.” But I don’t think that is always necessary.

There are a lot of good use cases for starting small, like a proof of concept, where one starts with a small problem and sees how AI can help solve it without investing huge amounts. And then if it works, one can scale it. This model seems to be working with a lot of corporate and enterprise customers — and I think it can actually be modeled in many companies in Egypt.

You don’t need to start big and boil the ocean. Start small, see the results, and then scale it.

QUESTION 5 — How AI will develop and how it will be used are very hard to predict. If we sat down in a year’s time and had this conversation, do you think we would be talking about AI in a completely different way?

I don’t think so. But I think at some point, it’s going to start to become invisible. Today, electricity is invisible, right? I mean, we don’t even think about electricity, but it’s everywhere, in all the devices.

AI is new, but I think in the future — maybe not in a year’s time — we will start seeing the same thing. It’s going to be everywhere, in every device, in everything. It’s going to be akin to a basic utility that exists everywhere.

I’m very optimistic. There are a lot of AI optimists and a lot of pessimists, but I feel that if the advantages the technology can bring greatly outweigh the potential risks, it’s a good thing. And I think AI is in that segment.

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