Nevine Gamea — Minister of Trade and Industry and CEO of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA) — said that the state is providing the appropriate environment for SMEs to expand as a top priority, especially industrial enterprises. It also aims to facilitate the procedures for their establishment and continuity and help them to expand, grow, and access more markets. Furthermore, Gamea said that the MSMEDA is currently communicating with owners of small enterprises in industrial complexes in seven governorates, namely Beni Suef, Minya, Sohag, Luxor, Gharbeya, Alexandria, and the Red Sea to determine their needs for specialised financing programmes or various technical services for training, marketing, and other technical support services. She also explained the inventory of the actual requirements of the industrial complexes, which comes as a prelude to developing integrated programmes based on meeting the actual needs of these enterprises. This support can help their owners to continue, expand, increase production, and meet the needs of the local market with various food and industrial products, furniture, and clothing. Additionally, this helps identify promising sectors with a competitive advantage, assist their owners in developing their products, and help them with exporting. She added that the agency is also coordinating with the Industrial Modernisation Centre to prepare feasibility studies for new enterprises based on import substitution and relying on local products of appropriate quality. Furthermore, the minister said that owners of existing enterprises can benefit from the facilities provided by the new Enterprise Development Law 152 of 2020, whereby state agencies allocate a percentage of no less than 20% to small and micro enterprises, and no less than 20% to medium enterprises to purchase their products or provide services or consultations. Moreover, enterprise owners can benefit from the marketing services provided by the MSMEDA by facilitating their participation in local and international exhibitions as well as marketing products through outlets of major commercial chains and electronic trading platforms.
