Investments in women-focused projects across education, healthcare, social protection, and employment reached approximately EGP 300 billion between FY 2020/2021 and FY 2024/2025, Egypt's Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation Rania Al Mashat has stated. Speaking on Saturday at the 10th annual She Can conference, hosted at Creativa Innovation Hub in Giza, Al Mashat emphasised that women's empowerment is central to the ministry's strategy. She highlighted ongoing efforts to create a supportive business environment for female entrepreneurs through financing, training, and market access programmes in collaboration with national and international partners. She pointed to several key initiatives, including She Trades Egypt, launched in cooperation with the National Council for Women and the Ministry of Trade, with support from the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation. The initiative aims to improve the competitiveness of women-led businesses and expand their access to local and global markets. Al Mashat also cited She Leads, a programme implemented with the Ministry of Education and the National Council for Women to train and support female graduates of technical education, and the Gender Gap Accelerator, launched in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the private sector to address gender-based disparities in pay, opportunity, and economic participation. She emphasised that the ministry is adopting several other initiatives, including the Women Empowerment Award under the Egypt Government Excellence Award and the Women Lead programme with the National Training Academy. The minister added that Egypt's newly formed Ministerial Group for Entrepreneurship is placing strong emphasis on supporting women-led startups, improving access to finance, and coordinating policies to foster this vital sector. Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English Subediting: M. S. Salama
