10-03-2025
Egypt, CIHEAM Bari partner up to fund green MSMEs by youth, women in Sohag
CAIRO – 10 March 2025: The Ministry of Social Solidarity and the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM Bari) are finalizing a plan to partner up in implementing a project in Upper Egypt's Sohag.
The project is funding micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) founded by youth and women in green industries, in addition to supporting informal businesses to join the formal sector and providing capacity-building to governmental bodies concerned with entrepreneurship in Sohag.
In a related context, Minister of Social Solidarity Maya Morsi and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Coalition for Civil Work Khaled Abdel Aziz signed in November a cooperation protocol on funding enterprises of women and youth at villages included in the "Decent Life" initiative across six governorates.
Those are Aswan, Asyut, Beni Suef, Giza, Alexandria, and Daqahliyah, and, the age group targeted is 21 to 55. Also, disabled individuals will be entitled to apply on the funding programme.
The programme includes training on management, crafts and online marketing, micro financing, veterinary care, insurance on poultry projects and capital, and assistance with sales.
The second phase of Decent Life Initiative kicked off in July, and it is being implemented with funds worth LE450 billion and completed in three years.
Seventeen percent of the Egyptian population residing a total of 1,500 rural villages – included in the first phase - had benefited from Decent Life initiative over the past three years with a cost of LE350 billion.
The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS) issued in July a report titled "The Villages of Egypt in 10 Years: From Marginalization to Decent Life" on "Decent Life," which is the initiative aimed at developing the countryside and improving the lives of 58 million with a budget that surpasses LE1 trillion.
