Could Egypt be the next world export hub?

CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Egypt has realized it needs to create more jobs, more factories and more exports -- and fast.

In many other countries, industrial zones nurture the sector by grouping a number of factories serving a single business or industry together.

But for many years, Egypt's government has been in charge of industry and hasn't always chosen to organize the sector for maximum efficiency.

"There were no consistent industries, and services were very primitive because you have a soap factory and a car factory and a garment factory nearby. Services wouldn't be provided to a higher level to what the industrial investors will be expecting," said Karim Sami Saad, Chairman of Engineering Square.

Now, Cairo is trying to invigorate industry in a different way. By putting investors -- like Karim Saad -- in charge of the country's industrial sector in the hopes it will become more efficient.

Having industrial zones run by the private sector marks the start of a new approach to this part of Egypt's economy. The government is right behind the project which started gathering momentum in 2007.

"Private sector can do it better. They can do it faster, they can do it more efficient and they actually do the marketing much better," Rachid Mohamed Rachid, Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry told CNN.

Each zone will be large and targeted to a specific industry. Saad's sector is an auto manufacturing zone and it is projected to start making cars within the next nine months.

Egypt is also ideally placed as an export hub, which many private investors see as a win-win opportunity.

"US market you can access from Egypt without duty, to European Union you can access without any duty, to Africa you can access without duty and Arab countries you can access without duties," said Tunc Ozkan, chairman of Polaris International, an international affiliation of independent accounting and consulting firms.

Ozkan is part of the team heading up a new garment manufacturing district where many of the businesses have Turkish ownership. It is known as the Turkish Zone.

Nine zones are currently being built with a goal of 25 by the end of next year and a projected figure of 5,000 factories in under a decade.

"If we can get to that situation, that will represent a very significant chunk and percentage of our industrial output -- which is growing at a rate of 8.5 percent per year -- and I could see that this is going to represent something like 80 to 90 percent of all our industrial new investments," Rachid said.

But boosting exports is just one of the goals for these industrialized zones. The other is creating jobs for tens of thousands of Egyptians over the next 18 months.

Currently, official unemployment is running at just under 10 percent -- unofficially the number may be closer to 15 percent -- which means there is a big supply of workers for the zones.

Over the next year and a half the zones are expected to create over 80,000 new jobs.

"This is going to be one of the most effective tools for us to fight unemployment," says Rachid.

Ozcan believes that as a private investor it is important to bear in mind that putting funds into Egypt's new industrialized zones is not about making quick money.

"This is not an opportunity to come and go. You have to stay here. You have to understand the nature of the people here and you have to waste a little time here to understand these circumstances," he told CNN.

If you do, Egypt's government says, the profits will be well worth the wait.