‘The Small & Medium Enterprises sector has now a great interest from the Egyptian government and business sector in Egypt, in this way a new roundtable discussion was organized, under the topic of “Small & Medium Enterprises … and Financing Challenges”. The topic was addressed by Dr. Nevine Gamea, Executive Director – Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency; Mr. Mamdouh Afia, Group Head – Small & Medium Enterprises – NBE; Ms. Reem Al-Saadi, Regional Manager – European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; Mr. Nader Saad, Head of SMEs Banking – Banque du Caire and Ms. Hanaa El Hilaly, Executive Advisor to the Chairman – EALB. At the beginning, Eng. Motaz Raslan first welcomed CEBC & ECIC guests, then he started with an introduction about the meeting, according to his word, this meeting was to discuss the importance of the Small & Medium Enterprises and their impact on our Egyptian economy. He said that Egypt has faced a significant delay in this field but now there are about 2.5 million enterprises currently working, representing 75% from the overall employment power. He added that the government is now granting high interest in this sector, though it is still facing many challenges. According to Mr. Raslan’s talk, the meeting aim was to discuss these challenges and how to overcome them. The discussion was then moderated by Ms. Hanaa El Hilaly, Executive Advisor to the Chairman – EALB, where she stressed on the importance of the Small & Medium Enterprises from both the social and economic sides. The next speaker was Dr. Nevine Gamea, Executive Director – Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, who spoke about the role of Agency, which is now working with 18 different agencies inside and outside Egypt. They have now a national strategy which consists of six axis related to the development of this sector, these axis include the improvement of the legal environment, the provision of funds, the development of the business services, the qualification programs, the development and the automation. The next speaker was Mr. Mamdouh Afia, Group Head – Small & Medium Enterprises – NBE, who added that Egypt should consider the experiences of other countries with respect to the Egyptian conditions, as this sector represents 85% from the overall public sector and it has as good development rate, where he also suggested that this sector should invade the non-monetary services sector. Ms. Reem Al-Saadi, Regional Manager – European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, covered the role of European Bank in this sector, where this bank works on funding the SMEs and providing the expertise in several industries. She added that they have certified more than 4000 local consultants and provided technical services through 1500 industry experts. Finally, Mr. Nader Saad, Head of SMEs Banking – Banque du Caire, spoke about the major advantages of the SMEs, since it is considered very beneficial for all the local banks and it provides thousands of the employment opportunities for the Egyptian youth. He also mentioned that by the end of January 2019 there will be 12 specialized centers in funding the SMEs and these centers are distributed as follows; 6 in Cairo, 2 in Alexandria, 2 in Delta & 2 in upper Egypt. By the end of the meeting it’s concluded that the Small & Medium Enterprises is a very important sector in Egypt, which can dramatically impact the economic and social life in Egypt. The floor was then opened for Q&As.