QIZ Egypt in collaboration with the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency and USAID Trade Reform and Development in Egypt (TRADE) organized a workshop on February 23rd, 2022 in the context of the initiative of QIZ Egypt to support 80 Small Sized companies which recorded a volume of exports less than 1 Million USD in 2021.
The ratio of exports of these companies constituted 2.4% of the total volume of QIZ exports in 2021 which recorded about 1.2 Billion USD.
The workshop aimed at studying the actual needs of these companies to increase their exports to the U.S. market, and whether they need financial, technical or logistical support.
Dr. Ashraf El Rabeiy the Head of QIZ Egypt confirmed that SMEs are considered from the main pillars supporting any economy. He referred to the pivotal role played by MSMEDA in supporting MSMEs and its synchronization with the Trade Reform and Development in Egypt project. This project was launched by the USAID last year for a period of 5 years with a budget of 36 million USD to support 300 SMEs fostering their export capacities.
The Deputy CEO of MSMEDA Eng. Tarek Shash confirmed the keenness of the agency to support the efforts of the Egyptian State in achieving the national target of increasing the Egyptian exports to foreign markets abroad to 100 million USD. He confirmed the long experience which MSMEDA enjoys in supporting MSMEs by coordination with the state bodies in concern.
Mr. Rachid Benjalloun the USAID Trade Reform and Development in Egypt project manager confirmed that the project which started on April 2021 could contribute to achieving remarkable increases in SMEs exports to the U.S. market. He pointed out that the scope of the project focuses on 6 main sectors: Ready – Made garments, home textiles, food industries, engineering products, chemicals and building materials.
QIZ Egypt is currently preparing for holding the second workshop for supporting QIZ companies in Alexandria during the upcoming period.