2,000 New SMEs Launched in September via ‘Mashrouak’, Says Egypt’s Ministry of Local Development
The initiative, which was launched in 2015 in collaboration with the Central Bank of Egypt, has now backed 156,000 SMEs across 16 governorates, according to the ministry.
Egypt’s Ministry of Local Development has revealed that 2,000 SMEs were founded in September of this year through its SME funding program, ‘Mashrouak’ (Arabic for ‘Your Project’).
Launched in 2015, the programme is part of a larger initiative powered by the Central Bank of Egypt, which provides loans at 5% interest rate. It has been claimed that the programme has, to date, funded up to 156,000 enterprises across 16 Egyptian governorates, creating an estimated 890,000 jobs in the process.
The initiative has been most prolific in Minya, where 18,500 projects worth EGP 1.9 billion have been launched, while Sohag comes in at second place with 16,000 projects worth EGP 1.8 billion. Beheira is in third place, meanwhile, with 15,800 projects worth EGP 1.2 billion.
The vast number of beneficiaries from the initiative has been credited to the fact that ‘Mashrouak’ has 260 offices across Egypt, through which funding requests are made.
