Amr El-Hauray, Regional Director at the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA), said the agency provided about EGP 127.5m in finance to small and micro projects in the four governorates – Sohag, Qena, Luxor, and Aswan – targeted by the “Decent Life” initiative.
He added that these projects provided more than 7,000 job opportunities during the first 7 months of 2021. He explained that the funds pumped into Sohag governorate only amounted to EGP 49.m.
MSMEDA in Sohag governorate continues to organize training courses for citizens on entrepreneurship and handicrafts, as well as introductory seminars on how to finance projects through the agency and the services it provides to those wishing to establish new small projects or owners of existing projects, within the targeted villages of the presidential initiative.
As head of the Economic Committee in the Decent Life initiative, the agency aims to participate in the development of the Egyptian countryside by developing the capabilities of citizens and developing their productive skills, especially youth and women, and enabling them to establish small and micro projects that directly reflect on their quality of life.
Nader Abdel Zaher, director of the Project Development Authority branch in Sohag, said that the Decent Life initiative includes about 181 villages in the governorate, namely Dar al-Salaam, al-Balina, Saqlata, Gerga, al-Manshah, Tama, and Maragha.
He added that the branch had organized, from the beginning of the year until the end of July, 29 introductory seminars on the financial and technical activities of the small enterprises in the villages targeted by the initiative.
He explained that 15 other young people are currently being trained, and the branch has trained about 65 young people in plumbing work at the headquarters of the Community Development Association in Awlad Ma’man, and a bag of maintenance and repair tools has been delivered to the best 3 trainees.
He stressed that these training courses are organized with the aim of qualifying young people for the labour market, giving them suitable job opportunities through self-employment and establishing their own small and micro projects, or qualifying them to work for others.
Abdel Zaher indicated that the branch organized 3 free training courses for 30 girls and women in Maragha, to train them in the craft of sewing.
