The Egyptian government has made great efforts to support and develop small and micro enterprises, to enhance their role in advancing economic development and creating job opportunities for youth, as many initiatives, incentives and facilitations were provided and a supportive legislative environment was created for their launch. However, despite these efforts, this sector still faces many financing, marketing and operational challenges that limit the expansion of its participation in supporting the national economy.

In this context, Canada Egypt Business Council and the Egyptian Council for International Cooperation held a forum entitled “The Role of Small Enterprises in Supporting Economic Development” moderated by Ms. Hanaa El Hilaly; managing director “Al Kheir Microfinance”Chair – CEBC SMEs & International Cooperation Committee.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Motaz Raslan chairman of CEBC and ECIC welcomed the forum guests Dr. Ahmed Hussein Abdel Gawad; Executive Director for Micro & SMEs Control Unit Egypt Financial Supervisory Authority, Dr. Sherif Shoman; Chief Executive Director Alexandria Business Association, Mr. Akef Abdel Latif Al Maghraby; Vice Chairman – Banque Misr, Mr. Bassel Rahmy; CEO Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency and Ms. Hanaa El Hilaly; managing director “Al Kheir Microfinance”Chair – CEBC SMEs & International Cooperation Committee.

Mr. Motaz also added that small and medium enterprises are the engine of economic growth and the main focus for providing job opportunities and combating unemployment, adding that there are 2.5 million small enterprises that provide 75% of job opportunities.

Then the floor was given to Ms. Hanaa El Hilaly.  At first, she thanked all attendees and the panel then she announced that the Small and Medium Enterprises Committee in the Council had changed its name to the Banking and Non-Banking Services Committee then she gave the floor  to Mr. Akef Abdel Latif Al Maghraby after introducing him.

For his part, Mr. Akef Abdel Latif Al Maghraby; Vice Chairman – Banque Misr, Mr. Bassel Rahmy; CEO Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, he mentioned that Banque Misr and Banque du Caire are among the largest banks for financing small and medium-sized projects. Then he talked about the Nile Pioneers Initiative of the Central Bank, which includes the business development centers, which were 4 centers and have become 15 centers till now and Providing non-financial services to 25,000 companies, including teaching budgeting, opening markets, and marketing. He also mentioned the bank’s agreement with Google to train companies in opening foreign and international markets, marketing, and e-commerce.

Mr. Bassel Rahmy; CEO Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency as he explained the role of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, which is represented in financial and non-financial services in addition to local exhibitions such as the Our Heritage Exhibition and international exhibitions as well. He also talked about restructuring the agency, as the agency suffered from a lack of funding over the past three years, but after the restructuring, the agency was able to reach its budget to 530 million dollars in 2023.

He also mentioned that the agency now has an agreement with Amazon to export Egyptian products abroad through Amazon.

In the same context, Dr. Ahmed Hussein Abdel Gawad; Executive Director for Micro & SMEs Control Unit Egypt Financial Supervisory Authority mentioned that before Law 141 of 2014, financing for small projects existed through a group of private institutions in Egypt and under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Solidarity. Then he also added that before the law was issued, the size of the wallet was about 2 billion pounds in 2016 and about 800,000 beneficiaries, but today, after 7 years, we have reached a wallet size of up to 50 billion pounds, with 3.9 million beneficiaries.

Dr. Sherif Shoman; Chief Executive Director Alexandria Business Association emphasized that the Alexandria Business Association and its full support for small projects in various ways, one of the ways to support these projects is that we  established training centers where workers are trained to meet the needs of factories. And another training center to meet the administrative needs of entrepreneurs and institutions, where training is given on how to deal with taxes and insurance and how to manage accounts.

Then he mentioned their step-by-step program where young graduates are brought in and trained by specialists and experts to start their own projects, he also added that more than 3,000 trainees were trained and started their own projects last year.

Then the floor was opened for questions and answers where many inquiries were discussed by the participants of the seminar.