Minister of State for Military Production Salah Gamblat met with Bassel Rahmy, CEO of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA), to discuss expanding cooperation across a range of manufacturing sectors.
The Monday meeting comes as part of broader government efforts to create employment opportunities and raise the productivity of Egypt’s workforce, supporting economic growth and helping to reduce the country’s import bill.
Gamblat outlined the technological and industrial capabilities of the ministry’s affiliated companies, highlighting several sectors with strong potential for collaboration. He emphasised opportunities to support young entrepreneurs through closer coordination with MSMEDA, including facilitating the establishment of small and medium-sized enterprises by providing suitable locations, setting up factories, and supplying production lines and equipment. This would also extend to offering technical consultations and conducting feasibility studies.
He added that project owners could benefit from a range of support services, including vocational, administrative and technical training delivered through the ministry’s training arm or via mobile training units. These units, which have already proven effective in cooperation with civil society organisations, could be further expanded. Gamblat also pointed to the potential for scaling up mobile service vehicle projects manufactured by the Armoured Production and Repair Factory (Factory 200).
For his part, Rahmy reaffirmed MSMEDA’s commitment to strengthening cooperation with the Ministry of Military Production, leveraging its manufacturing expertise, technical capabilities and training infrastructure to support the growth of the SME sector.
Rahmy highlighted opportunities to deliver specialised training programmes tailored to industrial project owners, enabling them to develop their businesses and boost output. He also underscored the potential to utilise the ministry’s capabilities to help entrepreneurs transform ideas into viable ventures, including designing and producing dedicated industrial production lines that ensure quality and meet domestic market needs.
He added that cooperation could extend to scaling up successful SME models across key productive sectors, through partnerships with the ministry’s factories to provide integrated production lines and train entrepreneurs in their operation. This, he noted, would offer a viable domestic alternative to importing production lines and equipment.
Following the meeting, Rahmy toured the ministry’s training facilities and the Scientific and Technological Excellence Centre, commending their advanced equipment and programmes as a strong foundation for supporting youth-led projects and entrepreneurship.
