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SMEDA signed contract with Banque du Caire worth EGP 500m to fund microenterprises 25% of contract dedicated to women, 60% to workers below poverty line, 70% to rural areas
Niveen Gamea, chief executive director of the Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDA) signed a contract with Tarek Fayed, chairperson of Banque du Caire, worth EGP 500m to finance microenterprises, as part of the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development. This project targets women and rural areas, with 25% of the contract's value directed for women, 60% of it for workers below the poverty line, and 70% for projects in rural areas. The agreement finances enterprises that are willing to grow, replacing old techniques with newer ones, which would give rise to competition. They will present different opportunities, increasing production and income, reflecting on the improvements of these enterprise owners' lifestyles or the workers involved within it. In addition, the agency's expansion plan is to fund upcoming enterprises focusing on women and youth, with the cooperation of development partners and the support initiative from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and the Egyptian Microfinance Network (EMFN) to fund dozens of enterprises. Gamea said that the funding loan amounts to EGP 30,000, with plans to continue funding to more than 50,000 new enterprises while implementing the project. Since 2012, the contracts between Banque du Caire and the agency have reached over EGP 1.367bn, used as rotational loans that helped fund at least 329,000 clients through the bank's branches across Egypt.
