Bassel Rahmi, the head of the Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprise Development Authority (MSMEDA), announced that the authority has allocated EGP 4.1bn from January to October 2023 to finance 128,000 small and micro projects across the country. He said that these projects have created about 212,000 permanent and 278,000 daily job opportunities in different fields, such as industrial, commercial, service, and freelancing sectors.

Rahmi also revealed that the authority has organized 138 exhibitions, both locally and internationally, with the participation of around 3,400 exhibitors, achieving sales and contracts worth EGP 270.8m.

He met with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Tuesday evening to discuss various issues related to the authority’s work. During the meeting, the Prime Minister praised the role of the authority in contributing to Egypt’s goals of increasing employment rates, providing more new job opportunities, improving the business environment, fostering an entrepreneurship culture, and achieving targeted economic growth rates, considering the importance of the small and medium-sized enterprises sector to various economies.

Rahmi highlighted the financial and non-financial services provided by the authority from January to October 2023, including marketing services, industrial project development and technological support, agricultural project services, entrepreneurship services, and e-commerce services.

He also discussed the efforts of the authority to support small projects in North Sinai, stating that since the inception of the authority, 15,600 projects have been funded with a total financing of EGP 240m, providing 27,300 job opportunities in the governorate. Additionally, 203 exhibitions were organized with the participation of 1,150 exhibitors, offering diverse non-financial services totalling 5,700 services. The authority issued 1,700 temporary licenses, 320 commercial registrations, and 370 tax cards through a unified window. The funding for community and human development projects amounted to EGP 50m.

Rahmi also discussed the authority’s action plan for the development of North Sinai during 2023/2030, particularly regarding the financing of medium, small, and micro projects, providing various training programs, and technical support, conducting educational seminars to promote entrepreneurship, and implementing measures to improve the business environment.

During the meeting, Rahmi reviewed the results of the “Torathna” exhibition in its 2023 edition, indicating that the exhibition covered an area of 10,000 square meters with the participation of over 1,000 local and international exhibitors. He noted that the exhibition witnessed the participation of 23 craft sectors, resulting in sales and contracts exceeding EGP 200m, with around 150,000 visitors throughout its duration.

Rahmi also mentioned several initiatives that the authority is involved in, including the initiative to establish 1,000 factories in collaboration with the Industrial Development Authority, the green economy transition initiative in collaboration with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the presidential initiative “Decent Life,” and the initiative to establish 2,000 mobile food units in collaboration with relevant ministries.

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