The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA), in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), organised a networking forum for businesswomen on 31 July. The forum included 40 businesswomen, who finished the Businesswomen Support Programme’s advisory services scholarship and will receive the scholarship.

The SMEDA CEO Nevein Gamea said that the Businesswomen Support Programme is one of the Business Consultancy Services programmes that are implemented by the SMEDA.

She also highlighted the achievements of the programme, which has been implemented in the governorates of Greater Cairo, Gharbeya, Alexandria, Assiut, Sohag, Daqahleya, Minya, Port Said, Ismailia, and Suez to develop small enterprises owned or run by women to become larger projects.

“To date, the programme provided funding of about EGP 40m pounds for 35 women through the offices of the SMEDA, in addition to providing a package of non-financial services for 25 clients,” she assured.

Moreover, “161 business consultancy scholarships have been received by 127 female clients, and 62 consultants have been registered as service providers,” she added.

In addition to providing training programmes for 432 businesswomen, they trained 68 female consultants in Assiut, Gharbeya, Mansoura, and Minya governorates, according to Gamea.

Gamea explained that the programme aims to promote and support the concept of entrepreneurship for Egyptian women in order to support economic development and comprehensive transformation of the Egyptian market’s economy.

She assured that this came “in addition to providing businesswomen with greater opportunities for integration and networking between their projects, leading to the upgrading of projects and enhancing their capacities, which affects positively the profitability, productivity, and marketing of these projects.”