Egypt’s Minister of Planning sponsors the signing of a cooperation protocol between MSMEDA & ABE

H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Mr. Basil Rahmi, CEO of the Egyptian Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), and Mr. Aladdin Farouk Zaki, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Agricultural Bank of Egypt (ABE), witnessed the signing of a new financing contract between MSMEDA and the Agricultural Bank of Egypt within the framework of the "Egyptian Family Development Initiative - Bab Rizq" with total financing of EGP 60 million funded by the French Development Agency (FDA)'s agreement.

 

 

The signing ceremony witnessed the presence of Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Khaled Zakaria, Advisor to the Minister of Planning for Public Policies and Structural Reforms, and Dr. Amira Tawadros, Director of the Demographic Center.

 

 

The contract was signed by Ms. Nevin Badr El-Din, Head of the Central Sector for Microfinance at the Enterprise Development Agency. It was also signed by Mr. Saleh Mahmoud El-Shamy, Executive Director of Credit at the Agricultural Bank of Egypt.

 

Dr. Hala El-Said stated that the national project for family development aims primarily to improve population characteristics and control population growth rates. This will enable Egyptian society to benefit from development and achieve Egypt's Vision 2023.

 

El-Said stated that the protocol signed between the project, the Agricultural Bank, and MSMEDA reflects the Family Development Project's keenness to mobilize all efforts and build partnerships with all state institutions to achieve its desired goals. These goals were set according to the project's five axes, especially women's economic empowerment.

 

El-Said indicated that the protocol signed today allows the financing of various projects for Egyptian women that enable them to improve the economic conditions of their families, help them face life's burdens, and allow them to live a decent life.

 

El-Said added that the national project for family development, with its various pillars of awareness-raising, legislative reform, automation of services, and health services provision, is underway.

The coming period will also witness the activation of the positive incentives pillar.

This includes material incentives represented in the insurance policy that grants women sums of money amounting to EGP 60,000. In addition, there are positive financial incentives to be announced soon, according to El-Said.

 

For his part, Basil Rahmi confirmed that the project aims to support state initiatives and finance micro-projects owned by women to help them continue or finance their projects.

 

 

Rahmi indicated that the agency is keen to implement the directives of Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the agency, to increase the portfolio allocated to financing micro-enterprises in general, focus on women and youth in particular, and activate cooperation mechanisms with development partners to support the micro-enterprise sector and expand the provision of outlets for financing these projects.

 

Rahmi explained that the signed contract with the Agricultural Bank of Egypt provides financing of up to EGP 100,000 per loan. It also allows access to the largest segment of customers through the most widespread branches of the Agricultural Bank. This is especially true in targeted villages and rural areas.

 

Rahmi added that about 3,000 micro-projects will be funded during the project period, with priority given to the people of the villages of the Decent Life Initiative in twenty governorates. Egypt.

 

Rahmi indicated that the cooperation between the agency and the Egyptian Agricultural Bank in the field of financing micro-projects came with a total of contracts amounting to EGP 156 million, which were used as revolving loans and financing about 20,000 micro-projects, amounting to more than EGP 160 million, through the bank’s branches spread all over the republic.

 

Mr. Alaa Farouk, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Agricultural Bank, affirmed the bank's keenness to direct all its efforts to achieve rural development, in implementation of the directives of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic, and to achieve the goals of the presidential initiative "a decent life" to provide job opportunities and improve the standard of living of a broad segment of the population.

 

 

 

 

The President of the Agricultural Bank of Egypt also confirmed that the value of financing contracts between the bank and the agency has so far amounted to about EGP 3.583 billion, which has been fully utilized in financing small and micro projects in various sectors for about 160,000 clients.

 

The bank's president indicated that the signing of a contract today confirms this cooperation. This is especially since it aims to finance 3,000 micro-projects for rural women within the framework of the Egyptian Family Development Initiative project, and through the "Bab Rizq" microfinance program.

 

 

The Agricultural Bank of Egypt launched the "Bab Rizq" project to be a financing platform for rural women empowerment and female breadwinners in rural villages.

 

Bab Rizq has so far provided financing to 44,521 customers in all governorates, at a value of more than EGP 463.8 million.