Director-general of the Social Development Fund (SFD) Soha Soliman has signed two agreements with the Industrial Development Bank to develop small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt. The value of the agreements, which were signed on 17 February, is EGP 50m, funded by the French Agency for Development (AFD). SFD said that the agreements come in light of the government's efforts to support SMEs as a crucial base for economic progress, due to their ability to reach the slums, the low-income and neediest areas, and also because this sector creates massive job opportunities. Last week, the SFD obtained $90m as part of the Emergency Labour Intensive Investment Project, according to the SFD's Social Development department head Medhat Ismail. The investment injection will be used to create short-term employment opportunities for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. Signed in 2013, the SFD has cooperated with the European Union and World Bank to finance the project, which costs $200m in total. The SFD has signed several agreements with different governorates that are worth EGP 1.18bn, to benefit from the Emergency Labour Intensive Investment Project.
