Bridging Skills Gap in the Energy Sector to Fulfil Labour Market Needs

Title: Bridging Skills Gap in the Energy Sector to Fulfil Labour Market Needs

Context and challenges: Egypt is striving to diversify its economy by capitalizing on emerging market opportunities. With its strategic location and abundant renewable energy sources, the country is actively laying the groundwork to become a future exporter of electricity and green hydrogen amid soaring regional energy demand.

To meet this objective, Egypt needs to bridge the gap between industry and academia as well as increase the number of skilled professionals, including technicians and engineers.

Project approach: To support this goal, company and GIZ cooperated on the establishment of the EGT Academy, aiming to develop needed workforce capabilities by combining structured theoretical instruction with intensive practical training in a real industrial environment. The project draws on company’s global expertise in energy technologies and solutions, as well as the training centre’s proximity to company’s Service Centre, to provide trainees with continuous access to the latest practices and technologies in the energy sector. This approach cultivates technical competence, innovation, and adaptability to meet the demands of the rapidly changing sector.

From August 2017 to July 2024 company and GIZ implemented the following measures with a project volume of 17 million euros:

Building up a state-of-the-art training centre for professionals in the energy sector at a strategically located site within the Sokhna Industrial Zone in Ain Sokhna.
Development of market-orientated training units, providing tailored courses designed to help trainees excel in today’s workplace, including leadership skills for females in the energy sector and empowering people with disabilities.
Training of teachers for the EGT Academy and of certified master trainers for other technical educational institutions in the Technical Master Trainer Programme, a fully funded one-year programme designed to develop a future pool of qualified trainers.
GIZ supported the project in areas such as networking with partner organizations, evaluation and the development and implementation of a communications strategy.

Results: To date, over 6,000 professionals have been trained at EGT Academy across various customizable programmes in industry-specific areas such as energy and industrial automation, providing core training in mechanical, electrical, and automation engineering.

The training at EGT Academy is ISO-certified and addresses topics like decarbonisation, renewables, wind, and health and safety.
55 expert trainers have been qualified in the first year, among them today’s female leader of the academy.
New employment opportunities were created within the EGT Academy itself.
19 trainees have completed the pilot training programme for empowering persons with disabilities.