Nile Pioneers Initiative business development centers offer financing for projects

ArabFinance: The Nile Pioneers Initiative, one of the initiatives launched by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), announced that the volume of funds provided by the Business Development Services Centers (BDS) reached EGP 1.8 billion since its launch in 2019 until the end of 2021, benefiting more than 42,000 new and existing projects.

This falls within the framework of the continuous support of the banks initiative, supporting entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium enterprises, encouraging young people, and providing them with opportunities to start new projects.

Ahmed Hosni, the Director of the BDS Programs at the Nile Pioneers Initiative, said in a statement on Sunday that the 12 banks participating in the initiative continued their expansion plans by establishing 8 new business development units, bringing their number to 32 centers and units, including 27 units in banks and five units in the Ministry of Youths and Sports, covering 17 governorates, as well as the continuation of the strategy of qualifying specialists through the Egyptian Banking Institute the training arm of the CBE.

In 2021, about 29 new business development specialists were trained, bringing the total number of specialists in banks to 126, in addition to 31 specialists qualified by the Ministry of Youths and Sports.

The BDS centers and units succeeded in achieving a major boom during 2021, targeting about 24,000 beneficiaries, an increase of 11,000 from 2020, and a growth rate of 84.7%, bringing the number of beneficiaries since the launch of the initiative to about 42,278, 26% of which are women, while young men and women in the 16 to 35 age group accounted for 52.6%.

Over 2021, the BDS centers doubled their activities in spreading awareness of entrepreneurship and a culture of financial inclusion by holding nearly 500 seminars and meetings, targeting about 40,000 beneficiaries whether through direct participation or through social media during which, more than 15,000 services were provided within the framework of financial inclusion services.

This brought the total during 2021 to about 28,500 services, including 13,000 electronic cards, 6,500 debit and credit accounts, 7,000 electronic payment services, and 2,000 consultations to improve cash management and administrative solutions.

The package of services provided by BDS centers during 2021 also achieved a great leap, reaching about 66,000 services and an increase of 34,000 services, with a growth rate of 107% compared to 2020, bringing the total services to about 107,500 services since the launch In July 2019.

Additionally, the BDS centers of the Nile Pioneers Initiative also helped in obtaining official activity documents for about 2,395 commercial and industrial records and activity licenses.