Stimulating Entrepreneurship

In Egypt, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) account for almost 97% of all enterprises and give employment to half of the workforce. Therefore, MSMEs development is accorded high priority by the ILO Subregional Office for North Africa, Cairo.

SRO Cairo's efforts to empower MSMEs include improving the representation of MSMEs at decision-making levels, by empowering selected existing associations and networks, especially the FEDA (Federation of Economic and Development Association). The SRO Cairo deploys various instruments to achieve this objective, such as: increasing the quality of Business Development Services (BDS) delivered by these associations to their members, supporting the elaboration of the first Egyptian law on MSMEs in 2004, and stimulating the creation of strategic partnerships, such as the one that exists between FEDA and the Social Fund for Development (SFD).