199,620 Egyptians benefited from World Bank job program as of Dec

16 / 03 / 2024

By Marwa Nassar - -

ِAbout 199,620 Egyptians benefited from the World Bank project of “Catalyzing Entrepreneurship for Job Creation” as of December 2023, including 43% women and 43% youths, according to an infograph released by the World Bank.

About 408,829 job opportunities were created and maintained under the five-year project which began in January 2020.

Job creation is becoming increasingly integral to prosperity and stability in Egypt whose population passed the 104 million mark in 2023. About 76 percent of Egyptians are under the age of 40.

The $ 200 million project is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship, combined with expanding access to finance for small and medium enterprises, which have proven to be a major source of growth and job creation.

This project is designed to address the major obstacles that young people and women face when launching new businesses.

The program supports entrepreneurs with a focus on women and youth, with Debt Financing for micro, medium and small sized enterprises (MSMEs) given by the categories of financial intermediaries mentioned above, which will on-lend sub-loans to eligible MSMEs.

Lending will be prioritized for firms that can generate jobs, with a share of women- and youth-led MSMEs and beneficiaries in lagging regions.

The project focuses on three components. The first component is MSMEs which is meant to address access to finance gaps among MSMEs in Egypt and encourage greater private sector participation in the MSME market through a robust market demonstration effect.

The World Bank project aims to finance 85,000 micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) through 30 financial intermediaries – both banks and non-bank financial institutions, such as financial leasing companies, micro finance NGOs, and micro –finance companies (MFCs).

The second component, risk capital for innovative startups and high growth SMEs, entails the provision of equity and quasi equity investments to eligible risk capital intermediaries (RCIs) that target innovative startups and high growth SMEs in the territory of the Borrower; and associated management costs.

The program also aims to invest in 190 start-ups through 10 RCIs.

The third component, business and capacity development entails the provision of training, mentoring, coaching, and business development services to eligible MSMEs, participating financial institutions (PFIs), and eligible RCIs for part one and two of the project; provision of technical assistance to enhance MSME Development Agency (MSMEDA’s) usage of digital solutions, including for a digital matching platform aimed at connecting entrepreneurs with potential investors; and the developing of a robust monitoring framework, including for job creation under the project.