Nevine Gamea, Minister of Trade and Industry and Executive Director of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), said that the agency funded about 58,000 small and micro projects in Aswan governorate with EGP 1.13bn, from July 2014 to November 2021. She added that the funds provided about 75,000 job opportunities, of which about EGP 592m financed about 55,000 micro-projects and provided about 63,000 job opportunities for citizens, especially in villages most in need. Gamea emphasized that the agency's branches in all governorates provided technical support, non-financial services, and training courses to qualify young people for the labour market and help them prepare feasibility studies and finalize the necessary procedures to be able to start their new projects, in addition to applying various mechanisms to help them market their products through their participation in exhibitions organized by the agency or participate in organizing and facilitating their participation in government contracts. She added that the agency contributed to the implementation of labour-intensive projects to develop and improve infrastructure and community development in Aswan Governorate, to provide employment opportunities for irregular workers and a better environment that helps to expand the financing of small and micro projects, as it provided grants amounting to EGP 159m, which provided about 1.8 million daily employment for irregular workers. Gamea indicated that as part of the agency's role within the framework of the presidential initiative "Decent Life" to develop the Egyptian countryside and improve the standard of living in the most needy areas, funds were pumped into the Aswan Governorate during the period from 1 January 2021 to 30 November 2021 at a value of EGP 77m, which financed 2,300 projects in Edfu, Kom Ombo, and Nasr El Nuba, which provided about 4,000 job opportunities. She called on the young people of Upper Egypt and Aswan to take advantage of the many services provided by the state to encourage young people to self-employment and entrepreneurship through the MSMEDA and to benefit from the various training programs that qualify them for entrepreneurship and management of small projects, in addition to the various financing mechanisms provided by the agency to finance various industrial, agricultural and commercial activities to finance the establishment of small and micro enterprises that provide them with decent job opportunities and a better standard of living. She pointed out that the president's directives to the youth of Egypt are to use their energies in work and production, to stay away from the search for traditional jobs, and to pay attention to the great gains achieved by self-employment and entrepreneurship and their important role in effective participation in the economic development movement that Egypt is witnessing now.
