Egypt offers LE 2.8B in financing for small and micro projects in 6 months

CAIRO – 15 August 2021: Medium, Small and Micro Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA) financed 87.7 thousand small and micro projects in the first half of 2021 (from January to June) with a total of LE 2.8 billion, which created about 146.5 thousand job opportunities, according to CEO of the Agency Nevine Gamea.

Gamea added in a statement to the agency, Sunday, that young people in the age group of 30-40 years received up to 36 percent of this funding, and the governorates of Upper Egypt benefited by more than 43 percent of the funding.

She stressed that the agency works in constant coordination with the various concerned authorities in the country to implement the directives of the political leadership by providing all aspects of support to the small enterprise sector and providing the appropriate environment to encourage citizens to engage in self-employment and establish new small projects that contribute to meeting the needs of the local market for various services and products, which contributes to reducing imports and supporting the national economy, and providing thousands of job opportunities for the owners and workers of these projects.

She called on citizens to take advantage of the various services provided by the Project Development Authority to finance their new projects or expand their existing projects and the new facilities and benefits provided by the Project Development Law with regard to the procedures and steps for establishing a project and assistance in marketing products by allocating a percentage of government purchases for these projects and simplified tax treatment. In addition to a large and varied number of non-financial services provided by the Authority, including training courses that qualify them to start these projects.

She added that the agency's branches in the governorates issued, during the same period, 2,654 certificates to classify projects to benefit from the benefits of the law, and issued 551 licenses to regularize the status of projects operating in the informal sector to convert to the formal sector. Sales amounted to about LE 39 million.

Gamea indicated that the agency’s branches in the governorates receive citizens daily from 8 am to 4 pm, except for Friday and Saturday. Citizens can also call 16733 to find out the headquarters of these branches, and they can find out the details of the services provided by the agency through its website www.msmeda.org.eg.