الاقتصاد التشاركي والعمل عبر المنصات - PDF to Podcast
Published on Sep 09, 2026
Description:
What happens when work stops being a fixed office job and becomes something you can switch on from an app? That is the question driving the platform economy.
In practice, it is an economy built on temporary and flexible assignments. Companies increasingly prefer to work with independent freelancers rather than full-time employees, and platforms have become one of the fastest routes to remote income, bigger client networks, and continuous skill building.
A November 2025 report from Egypt’s Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center describes this collaborative economy as a new growth model for the digital age.
Let’s look at the global market first, then narrow in on Egypt.
Here is the scale: the same report shows the global collaborative economy rising from 194.14 billion dollars in 2024 to 244.8 billion dollars in 2025, a compound annual growth rate of about 26.1 percent.
Forecasts go further: it is expected to keep expanding at a compound annual rate of about 25.7 percent and reach nearly 611 billion dollars by 2029.
The report says work in this model has become an integral part of the digital economy. It covers shared transport, shared finance, shared tasks, shared accommodations, and shared healthcare services.
Sector data for 2025 gives transport the biggest share at 45 percent, accommodation about 30 percent, and all remaining sectors about 25 percent. Transport is forecast to grow at a CAGR near 25.6 percent, and accommodation near 26.1 percent.
Those growth rates have pushed the International Labour Organization to write new rules. After the ILO Governing Body examined platform work at its 114th session, the agreement known as Convention C193, or the Platform Economy Convention, was adopted on 12 June 2026.
Before you can enforce rules, you need data. The ILO has set up a technical working group, based on recommendations from the twenty-first International Conference of Labour Statisticians, to prepare definitions and measurement methods for approval at the twenty-second conference in 2028.
So when we turn to Egypt, we are looking at one of the most active testing grounds for this new economy.
Egypt already ranks among the top ten countries for freelance work. The report points to about 850,000 professional freelancers, reflecting the ability of young Egyptians to offer globally competitive digital services.
The most visible example is ride-hailing. Uber has more than 30,000 drivers in Egypt, and the shared transport market was worth around 1.84 billion dollars in 2024. The report expects it to reach 3.61 billion dollars by 2030, growing at 11.4 percent a year.
Beyond transport, Egypt’s platform economy grew between 15 and 20 percent a year over the last decade. Since 2015, about 500 dedicated platforms have appeared: 50 percent linked to transport, 39 percent to entertainment and tourism, and 11 percent to accommodation and housing.
Support is becoming official, too. The report cites new ITIDA incentives for freelancers as part of an effort to push digital exports and independent work.
Yet the report is careful to say Egypt is still in the early stages of making the most of freelancing, even as global demand for digital services and tech skills rises.
What stands out to me is the double task for policymakers: keep the growth engine running while deciding how to classify and protect platform workers.
Exactly. And that brings us back to the global rulebook.
The report calls the new convention a landmark step for reconciling technological innovation and new business models with the principles of decent work, fair competition, and sustainable economic growth.
For a freelancer, the promise is flexibility and borderless income; for a policymaker, the promise is growth with protections. Egypt’s next stage will be judged on how well it connects those two promises.
We will keep watching that story. Thanks for listening.