Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met on Sunday with Basil Rahmy, CEO of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), at the government headquarters in New Alamein City. The meeting focused on reviewing the agency's progress and discussing key work files. During the meeting, Rahmy presented a detailed overview of MSMEDA's achievements between January 1 and June 30, 2024, highlighting the agency's role in supporting the growth of small, medium, and micro-enterprises. MSMEDA's financial services saw significant progress, with the disbursement of EGP 2.8bn to fund 920 small projects, creating more than 9,250 jobs. The agency also financed 10 medium-sized projects, resulting in over 1,270 new jobs, and 41,500 micro-projects, creating approximately 115,000 jobs. MSMEDA also funded projects related to infrastructure, community development, and training, generating a total of 182,300 workdays. Rahmy emphasised MSMEDA's focus on supporting specific segments, noting that 49% of the agency's funding was directed towards women-owned businesses and another 49% towards projects in Upper Egypt. Additionally, 70% of funding for medium-sized projects was allocated to the manufacturing sector, and 48% of total funding for small, medium, and micro-enterprises was directed towards individuals under 40 years old. Beyond financial support, MSMEDA provided non-financial services, including licence and certificate issuance through 33 one-stop-shop (OSS) service units. From January to June, MSMEDA issued 2,616 temporary licences for new projects, 242 final licences for new projects, 1,499 temporary licences for regularisation, 85 final licences for regularisation, 6,226 client benefit certificates, and facilitated 221 training courses on freelancing and entrepreneurship, reaching approximately 5,300 trainees. MSMEDA's non-financial services also included registering 1,899 suppliers with government agencies, connecting 134 projects to public sector supply chains, signing 136 integration deals worth EGP 14m, organising 69 internal exhibitions in Cairo and governorates that benefitted 1,059 exhibitors, and participating in external exhibitions in Tanzania, Algeria, Tripoli, and Baghdad. In conclusion, Prime Minister Madbouly reaffirmed the government's commitment to the small, medium, and micro-enterprise sector, emphasising its importance for the Egyptian economy and its potential for growth. He stated that he would soon visit a number of these projects.
