New MSMEDA office opens in Cairo’s Shak El-Thoban

CAIRO – 16 December 2017: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) opened a new office in Shak El-Thoban, south of Cairo, to provide different services for marble manufacturers in the area, MSMEDA said in a statement Saturday.

Shak El-Thoban is an industrial area that includes nearly 1,855 factories and workshops for manufacturing marble and granite.

The new office will offer financial, technical, training and marketing support for micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to enhance their productivity and raise the income of the workshops’ owners, according to the statement.

Egypt began a strategy aimed at enhancing the SME sector, with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announcing an initiative to fund Egyptian SMEs with LE 200 billion.

MSMEDA offers funds for SME’s projects either directly or through using banks as mediators.

MSMEDA Director Nevine Gamea said Shak El-Thoban’s office will include a one stop shop to help businesses there to legally register, adding that the office will provide financial services for these projects either through direct lending or through banks and some civil associations.

Cairo governorate is looking to legalize projects in Shak El-Thoban. Last month, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi directed the governorate to urgently develop the area.