The Bank of Alexandria (AlexBank) signed a cooperation protocol with the Ministry of Social Solidarity aimed at supporting and empowering more than 20,000 Egyptian craftspeople by committing technical and financial support of up to EGP 3m throughout the programme which will span over a period of two years.
The protocol’s goal is to enhance marketing opportunities for Egyptian craftspeople, by promoting them locally and globally through the organisation of several exhibitions and by publishing photographic catalogue to showcase handicrafts produced all across Egypt.
The protocol was signed in the attendance of Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Waly, Assistant Minister of Social Solidarity Nevine El-Kabbag, AlexBank CEO and Managing Director Dante Campioni, AlexBank Head of CSR and Sustainable Development Laila Hosni, and several officials from AlexBank.
For her part, Waly said that the protocol comes in line with the ministry’s strategy that entails cooperation with all entities, whether governmental, private, or NGOs, that support developing and marketing handcrafted products.
The minister added that signing the protocol with AlexBank is considered part of a bigger social security strategy through increasing incomes and operations in parallel, along with expanding the financing of SMEs and microprojects.
“We believe that it’s extremely important to support the talented creativity of Egyptian artisans that we perceive is well spread all across Egypt, as this can create immediate work and socioeconomic inclusion opportunities, especially to the benefit of females and youth living in the rural areas of Upper Egypt,” Campioni said.
He added that AlexBank’s commitment aims at affirming the concept of creating shared value (CSV), which mainly relies on pursuing economic value while serving community, which is an evolution of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) notion, within the logic of promoting valuable and sustainable development.
It is worth noting that the signing took place within the framework of the Artisans Design Fair, an event organised by the Ministry of Social Solidarity and sponsored this year by AlexBank at the Cairo International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Nasr City, which took place from 2-5 May.
