Nevin Gamea, CEO of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDA) and Tarek Abdullah, president of Assiut University, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the promotion of the entrepreneurship culture.
The agreement also includes qualifying graduates from Assiut University to establish and manage small projects, especially projects based on creative ideas. The project also aims to introduce youth to all financial and non-financial services offered by the agency to these projects, and how to benefit from them in setting up their own small projects.
Gamea participated in the Youth Forum on Youth and Development held at Assiut University two days ago.
SMEDA places the governorates of Upper Egypt as one of its top priorities, and works to contribute towards all initiatives undertaken by the state to develop this precious part of Egypt, according to Gamea.
She stressed that the governorate of Assiut was one of the most important governorates that has received SMEDA’s support since 1992, where a total of EGP 3.1bn has been injected since.
Gamea said this includes EGP 2.6bn to finance 245,000 small and micro projects that secured 347,000 jobs, in addition to grants worth EGP 515m provided for the labor-intensive infrastructure projects and community development and training that provided 76,000 jobs.
The CEO stressed the interest of SMEDA in communicating with youth and graduates and introducing them to the services provided by the state to the small projects sector, along with the mechanisms for financial, marketing, and technical support.
During the forum, Gamea presented an integrated presentation of the services provided by SMEDA, and the means by which it supports youth projects, as well as its role in spreading free work, and encouraging graduates towards entrepreneurship.
In addition, Gamea held an open dialogue with the graduates and students of Assiut University to clarify the importance of expanding the establishment of small projects, and how young people can benefit from important development initiatives provided by the state in this regard, and to find SMEDA’s services.
On the sidelines of the forum, an exhibition was held for the products of small projects financed by SMEDA in Assiut. This aimed to initiate a dialogue between the projects’ owners and Assiut youth.
Gamea also witnessed the signing of a MoU between SMEDA and the Young Businessmen Association for Community Development in order to cooperate between SMEDA and the association to encourage the women of Assiut towards entrepreneurship, and provide them with the necessary training to successfully establish and manage small projects, as well as to benefit from all the financial, technical, and marketing services provided by SMEDA to its clients.