Egypt's Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea revealed that the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) pumped EGP 9.1bn into women's projects between July 2014 and late 2020. Gamea, who is also Executive Director of MSMEDA, said the agency had achieved a leap in financing women's projects, as it provided 623,500 loans in total during that period. This includes 27,851 loans for small projects, and 595,700 loans for micro enterprises. The minister said that the loans directed to women represented 46% of the total loans provided by the agency to small and micro enterprises during the same period. They provided 702,742 jobs in all governorates of the country. This comes in light of MSMEDA's efforts in support of the state's plans, projects and programmes aimed at providing support and care for Egyptian women. The agency also aims to contribute to their development, create a favourable environment for them to maximise opportunities, benefit from development programmes, and help empower them economically. Gamea said that, according to analytical indicators of the agency's performance over the past six years, Upper Egypt governorates ranked first in terms of funding directed to women's projects. These governorates received EGP 4.8bn, equivalent to 53% of the total disbursement from the agency. The minister said that women have had double the benefits from all the services provided by the agency during the same period, according to the agency's statistics. Statistics also show that they participated in the one-stop services provided by the agency from its various branches in the governorates at a rate of 29%. Women participated in marketing services at a rate of 32%, and accounted for 51% of the participation in local exhibitions organised by the agency. Over 18,000 women have received training courses on entrepreneurial skills, with about 2,000 women and girls across Egypt having benefited from training services in industry, handicrafts, and heritage. Gamea said that MSMEDA has directed the services of infrastructure and community development projects to women, especially in lower-income communities during the past six years. These projects generated 16 million daily jobs for women nationwide, equivalent to 53% of the total employment rates provided by the agency. She added that the percentage of women benefiting from primary health services has reached 90%. In terms of literacy services, this percentage ranged between 60-70%, in addition to 90% benefiting from kindergarten projects, and 45% of job training services provided by the agency.
