Dr. ElSheif led the vision and formulation of "DealNet" which is one of the first e-commerce platforms in the world. He also led the e-commerce initiative regionally. The Initiative addressed all the challenges that faced the developing countries in increasing their share of world trade by utilizing the latest technological means, which allowed those countries to trade goods and services electronically. At the regional level the Initiative -developed in the mid 90's - was based on the realization that through e-commerce Arab countries were given a golden opportunity to market their exports and promote their small and medium enterprises (SMEs). An Arab model was set up in Egypt. A number of strategic plans were initiated which mobilize information technology, financing mechanisms, security, copyright, communication infrastructure to build the first generation of e-commerce platforms. It also included setting up a mechanism to secure the transfer of private information over the Internet, as well as customs procedures and other related activities to e-commerce.